Of Broken Families and Shattered Souls
by Sparked To Life
Summary: AU begins Season Two. After escaping Neverland, Baelfire didn't return to the Land Without Magic. Instead, he returned to the Enchanted Forest, only to be taken up by the Dark Curse. Now, the Curse has been broken, and Baelfire is free once more. However, with wraiths, portals, and villains, his trials are far from over.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello all! This is my first fanfiction ever, so please try and refrain from chasing me off this website with torches and pitchforks. Now, be forewarned. In this chapter I give a major twist to a person which will seem incredibly out of character. However, there is an explanation for that at the bottom of the page. Please at least try and read it before leaving this fic in huff, probably muttering about idiot authors and their obscene ideas. Okay I guess it's time that I give that ever-so-present disclaimer.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not, nor have I ever owned Once Upon A Time or any of its characters. If I did, I wouldn't be on this website annoying you people. In fact, just consider this a blanket disclaimer for the entire story. If I miraculously end up buying Once before this story ends, I'll let you all know when I rub it in your faces.**

* * *

 _ **Of Broken Families and Shattered Souls**_

 _ **Chapter One:**_ In Which The Orderlies At The Asylum Are Knocked Out Several Times, Endure Multiple Prisoner Escapes, And Have An All-Around Bad Day

 _Only a fool entered Dark Hollow on a moonless night. Technically, only a fool entered Dark Hollow period. But this fact was especially true on the nights with no moon. Anyone with good sense and a will to live avoided the place as if it were death itself._

 _And as the cloaked figure slowly made his way through the cave system, he grimly wondered which he was lacking._

 _The reasoning behind the general avoidance of the place was actually quite simple. Neverland's many shadows had taken up residence in its darkness, and wouldn't hesitate to kill any and all trespassers. Normally, these shades were free to roam Neverland. But with no moon, there was no light to cast a shadow. And so, on these darkest of nights, every shadow on the island was confined to Dark Hollow._

 _Including Pan's._

 _And this was precisely what the intruder was counting on._

 _It was the only time that he could ensure the location of the shade. The only time he could trap it as easily as it had trapped him. It was for this reason that he risked everything (not that he had much in the first place) to venture forth into the forbidden, armed with nothing but hope and a coconut._

 _And as the screams of the shadows' tortured souls grew closer, it was this painful hope that kept him going. Carefully, he removed the carved lid off of the cage he had built and surveyed the spectors that surrounded him. He could not risk choosing the wrong one. Only Pan's would fit his purposes. It was the only one powerful enough to free him._

 _There. Reaching towards him. Ready to destroy him further._

 _It would never get the chance._

 _Because the moment the shadow got close to the intruder, a candle flickered to life in the coconut he held. It's brilliant flames reached out and wrapped around the specter, trapping it with its warmth. With a shriek, the shadow was dragged down into the tiny cage, and the boy quickly replaced the lid._

 _The screams stopped. The chill lifted._

 _And for the first time in a long time, Baelfire smiled._

* * *

Storybrooke Mental Asylum was a lonely, forgotten place. Very few were aware of its existence, and even fewer visited. In fact, the only visitor of any regularity was the mayor herself. Anyone who had found themselves unfortunate enough to be confined there was quickly forgotten, if they had ever been remembered in the first place. As a result, most of the patients spent their days in the dark, dreary cells that they called home.

In one such cell there sat a boy. A dark haired, dark eyed boy who had long ago lost track of how long he had been imprisoned. He didn't remember much from before the cell, and what little he did was jumbled and confused.

Until now.

Now, a blindingly bright light had pulsed through the dour cell, burning its way through the fog in his mind.

And Baelfire _remembered._

The Ogres War. A cursed dagger. A bean that should have meant hope, but had only given him betrayal. The Darlings. A shadow. Hook. The Lost Boys. Pan. Escape. A curse.

Baelfire remembered it _all,_ and it was quickly overwhelming him. Hundreds of years of pain, betrayal, running, all unlocked and unleashed and threatening to drown him. But slowly, he managed to fight back the wave of memories. They could wait until he figured out what had happened. For now, he needed to focus.

Someone had broken the curse. That much was obvious. That didn't explain where he was, or when he was, or even what realm they were in (a place where there are no happy endings isn't exactly descriptive, despite what the Evil Queen thought.) However, his last question was easily answered when he realized that a scan of his surroundings revealed no magic in the area. He was back in the Land Without Magic.

Okay. He could work with that. First, however, he needed to get out of this cage. The door was locked from the outside, and even if there was a keyhole where he could access it, he had nothing to pick it with. He couldn't exactly wait to be let out, as there was no guarantee that would ever happen. From what little he knew of the Queen, he could tell that any guards she had would never dare cross her, let alone free prisoners because a curse had broken. No, he had to free himself. Quickly, Baelfire formed a plan.

It wasn't the best plan he had ever had. It wasn't even necessarily a good plan. But it was a _plan,_ and he had escaped worse places with less in the past.

* * *

Nurse Mildred Ratched was not having a good day. For one thing, someone had had the audacity to drug her, and proceeded to free a patient in the process. And it hadn't been just any patient. It had been _her._ The amnesiac resident that had so interested the mayor. Nurse Ratched had barely begun to search for the girl when the curse broke, causing immeasurable chaos in the once peaceful town. And now, to top it all off, one of the patients was acting up.

It wasn't exactly a _surprise_ that it had been this patient causing the disturbance. Over the years he had committed many outbursts, and this one was no different to all the others. The young boy had been admitted to the asylum due to a diagnosis of early-onset schizophrenia with self-harming tendencies—or at least that was what her cursed memories had stated. Now that the curse had been broken, she knew that she really had no idea why he was here. Perhaps he had upset the Queen in his past life. Perhaps his parents had crossed the wrong person, and this was the revenge. Or perhaps he just truly was crazy.

Either way, it didn't really matter. She had a job to do, and no curse was going to stop her from doing it, no matter how dark it may be. The way the boy had gotten here made no difference. He was here now, and, crazy or not, here he was going to stay.

So, with this thought in mind, she prepared a sedative and made her way to the boy's (what was his name again? She probably should have learnt it by now) cell. _This,_ at least, was the same. She would open the door, utter a few calming words (or what was supposed to be calming words, but actually had quite the opposite effect in her harsh, no-nonsense tone), and jam the syringe into the child's arm, effectively subduing him.

Or at least, it _should_ have gone that way. Instead, the moment she opened the door the unintelligible sounds the boy had been emitting ceased, and she found herself staring into decidedly not crazy eyes.

* * *

 _Baelfire knew that he had to leave tonight. Pan would know, of course, that his shadow had disappeared. He would know that it had been_ stolen _. And, more importantly, he would know that the only person on the island with enough audacity to do such a thing was Baelfire._

 _After all, Baelfire was the only one who repeatedly defied him. The Lost Boys were far too brainwashed to even_ think _about disobeying their leader. Tinkerbell had only barely managed to barter an alliance with Pan, and would never dare risk it, and even if the Jolly Roger was still in Neverland, its crew had long ago become Pan's errand boys in exchange for the promise of one day earning their freedom (a deal that had recently been fulfilled when Pan had become bored of the pirates' presence.) Everyone had surrendered to Peter Pan's tyranny. Everyone except Bae._

 _And now that Baelfire_ finally _had the means of escape, he couldn't hesitate to use it. If he did, Pan would catch him, and he would never leave this godforsaken island._

 _Bae would sooner die than surrender to such a fate._

 _Even now, he could hear the Lost Boys' cacophony. They would be hunting soon. Hunting for him. Pan was not pleased, and would do everything in his power to ensure that Baelfire lost this game. But he didn't know that the deck was already stacked in Bae's favor. He had the shadow, a head start, a sheer desperation on his side. Moreover, he had a ensured Pan could never follow him. The binds on the coconut prevented the shadow from ever returning to his destination, and Baelfire had already stolen the one remaining means Pan had to travel the realms. Pixie dust. The_ last _of the pixie dust._

 _He may not have much of a plan, but it would work_. _It_ had _to work. He would go to the highest point of the island, release the shadow from its cage, and use it to escape this wretched island. He would be finally be free. He_ needed _to be free. With this thought on his mind, he steeled his determination and began to stalk through the forest._

 _Peter Pan should have known better than to play a game against such a desperate soul._

* * *

Frankly, Baelfire hadn't thought that getting the door open would be so easy. After all, this was only plan A, and surely the nurse (warden) would at least have _some_ hesitation to come near a prisoner so soon after the curse broke. But apparently, she had no such disinclination, and entered the cell the exact same way she had a thousand times before over the past thirty-odd years.

What happened next, however, was not at all similar to past events. Whenever the curse-induced madness had set in the unflappable Nurse Ratched would encounter a delirious, hysterical boy insistent that the shadows would take him away to hell. (And didn't _that_ particular symptom burn of irony now that his memories were back.) Now, however, she entered his "room" ( _cagecellprison)_ to meet a controlled, determined young boy absolutely _hell-bent_ on escape.

Honestly, Bae wasn't even going to try and reason with her. It would just be a waste of both their time. Instead, the moment she opened the door he calmly slipped past her and began to make his way towards the exit. She could have let him go. She could have allowed the blatantly sane individual to walk out of the asylum he was only placed in due to a curse cast by a self-proclaimed Evil Queen whose mental state was sketchy at best. (How many well-adjusted individuals dragged several kingdoms worth of people to another realm because of their personal vendettas?)

Instead, Ratched decided to grab his arm and attempt to yank him back in his prison. "Really?" Baelfire looked at her askance. "You and I both know I'm not crazy."

Rather than heed his statements, she continued her increasingly fruitless attempts to confine him. Eventually, she gave up and snapped at the large, sullen male silently observing from the corner. "Help me with him!" At her bidding, the long-haired man abandoned his mop and seized Baelfire from behind.

This was a mistake.

The moment Bae felt himself being grabbed he snapped his head backward, slamming it into the stranger's nose and causing the man to release him. Not wasting a moment in his assault, he pivoted his torso and crashed his elbow into his opponent's face. As the man stumbled backwards, the apparently scrappy Nurse Ratched entered the fray. Baelfire easily caught her arm before she could claw him, and quickly pinned it against the wall.

Then, he froze.

" _No."_

Because there was an all too familiar aura washing towards him. Something that tinged of danger and madness and possibility. Something that's sickly sweet essence crawled under your skin and whispered promises of anything, of _everything,_ but all for a _price._

 _Something that felt like magic._

Noticing his inner turmoil, Ratched swung up her free arm in an attempt to catch him off guard. Bae, managing to deflect her attempt, quickly snatched away the syringe and pushed it into her own arm, administering the sedative as the first tendrils of purple fog began to leak into the hall. Ignoring the smoke, he quickly moved towards the recovering male and rammed his knee into the the individual's gut. Before he could retaliate, Bae grabbed the man's head and slammed it down on his knee just as the hall flooded with the vibrant haze. _With magic._

By the time the fog was cleared, both of the orderlies were out cold and Baelfire had already resumed his march towards the exit. But his thoughts weren't on escape. No, he was much more preoccupied with the fact that _someone had brought magic to the Land Without Magic._

This warranted further investigation. He snagged a coat from the rack next to the desk and swung it on. He'd return it once he was able to (and once he was sure that he wouldn't be locked up again.) It was too big and reeked of mothballs but at least it somewhat covered up the baggy shirt and loose sweatpants the asylum had provided him with.

He finally reached a problem at the door. (While unpleasant, the fight with the staff hadn't necessarily been a _problem._ They would not have any damage past a few aches and bruises and before enacting his plan he had known he would be able to handle any altercation that may take place.)The door was electronic, the kind that required a specific code to open. And Baelfire had no idea what the code may be.

Experimentally, he flexed his fingers. It would be _so much easier_ to not even try and use it. He could leave it in the past, with the old realms and the nightmares and fighting.

But then he would never get this door open. The orderlies would wake up, only this time they'd be cautious around him. They'd be careful not to give him any openings in the future. His escape attempt would die, and with it his freedom.

With a sigh, Baelfire waved his arm in an arc in front of him, feeling the familiar flood of energy pass through his arm.

The door swung open.

Baelfire exited his prison of the past thirty years. He needed answers, and he wouldn't stop searching until he found them.

* * *

 _He shouldn't be having second thoughts._

 _This plan had been years,_ centuries, _in the making, and there shouldn't be a single doubt in his mind._

 _But there was._

 _It wasn't escape itself causing the trouble in Bae's mind. That was actually the one point he was firm on. He would escape this thrice bedamned island, and he would do it now. It was rather the destination that was causing him turmoil._

 _He had his reasons for choosing it, of course. He had spent months debating it, ever since leaving had become a real possibility. Time had moved on in the other realms. Sand passed through the hourglass, the hands of the clock spun, and people grew, withered, and died. More importantly,_ they _wouldn't be there anymore. They would have been nothing but a row of gravestones for years now. They would have lived long, happy lives together, growing old and dying. The Darlings would be_ gone.

 _The Land Without Magic had been empty before he met them, and it would be empty now that they were gone. He had only ever wanted to go to save his father, and when he was alone there it was nothing but a strange, foreign place filled with people that knew nothing of him and didn't care to. No one had wanted him. No one except the Darlings._

 _He_ couldn't _go back there and pretend like nothing had happened. He couldn't go back to a realm full of people that couldn't even_ begin _to understand what had happened because_ magic wasn't real. _And so he had chosen somewhere else. He had set his destination for a realm with magic. He'd still be alone there, but at least he wouldn't have to pretend that his entire life was nothing but an impossible, fictitious story. Nothing but a fairytale._

 _Then why was he having doubts? It was far too late to change his plan. His path was set, and there wasn't enough time to alter it (no time at all, not with Pan and his hounds getting closer by the second.) He quickly pushed aside his fears. He couldn't risk getting caught just because of a few apprehensive thoughts. Carefully, he unwound the thread binding the two halves of his trap together. Then, he pulled off the jagged lid of the coconut._

 _The shadow sprang from the small space, desperately trying to escape the deceptively innocent candle still flickering from within. It wouldn't get the chance. The instant the shade emerged Baelfire threw out his hand, sending forth a golden pulse of magic to bind it in place. The specter's eerie, glowing eyes fixated on him, an unspoken promise of revenge in its gaze._

 _It was too late for that. The shadow was already bound to obey him._

" _You know what to do," Bae stated unflinchingly. "Take me to the Enchanted Forest."_

 _Reluctantly, the shadow reached out and took the former Lost Boy's hand. As an icy chill shot down his arm, Baelfire felt himself get lifted off the ground._

 _And so the shadow and its passenger flew away. They flew away from the Lost Boys, away from Pan. Away from Neverland._

 _Baelfire never once looked back._

* * *

 **Okay so I guess this is explanation time. You're probably wondering, "Why the heck does Baelfire have magic?" The concept for this fic was born when I wondered, what if** _ **Baelfire**_ **was naturally talented with magic? We know it's possible, because of characters like Emma, Elsa, Zelena, and Ingrid who discovered their magic from random, usually sparkly outbursts that generally meant that they had magic whether they wanted it or not. It made me** _ **so curious**_ **as to how Baelfire would have dealt with it happening to him, as he had severe aversion to magic, and even went so far as to describe Neverland as "a land cursed with magic." This spun off into a monster of an idea that kind of took on a life of its own. Eventually, I decided to finally write it all down in an attempt to simultaneously improve my writing and finally get this idea out of my head. If you haven't run off screaming yet, there's more background information and explanations in my Bio for those interested.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, followed, and favorited! Seriously, you all made my year! Any questions, comments, critics and suggestions made by readers will forever be appreciated.**

 **In regards to this chapter: I'm sorry if any of the characters appear OC. I've never really written dialogue before, and that plays a big part of this chapter. So, sorry if I screwed it up! A slight change to the order of things in canon: I'm having Ruby take Henry to the diner before they confront the mob, not after. Also, for future reference, don't expect updates this fast. I haven't had school these past few days, so all I've been doing really is writing. I'm going to be choosing long chapters over quick updates, so don't expect a new chapter every few days. Alright, that's all I really have to say. Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Of Broken Families and Shattered Souls**

 **Chapter Two:** In Which Two Lost Boys Meet After Both Succeed In Their Disappointingly Simple Escape Attempts (Really, They Had Been Hoping For More Subterfuge)

Henry had thought that things would be better when the curse broke. Things _should_ have been better. Emma would know where she was from, Snow White and Prince Charming would remember who they really were, and then they'd all be together, as a family. And Henry wouldn't feel so alone anymore.

Only, Regina was his family too. She was his _mom._ And you don't turn your back on family, no matter who they curse or how crazy and lonely they make you feel. Except, Henry hadn't factored public sentiment into his ideas for after the curse.

The people hated her, of course. That was blatantly obvious from what the patrons of Granny's Diner were saying (mostly using words that Henry was never, ever allowed to repeat on the pain of eternal grounding.) The diner had become something of a command center for post-curse victims, and every second more tearful patrons walked through the door in hopes of discovering lost family within. Of course, just as many angry, spiteful people walked through, swearing revenge against his mother for what she had done. The sheer _amount_ of them was one thing that stunned him, which was ridiculous in hindsight. He had _known_ that the entire realm had been cursed. He had known that everyone he passed in the street had no idea who they truly were because of what had happened. Only, it hadn't really sunk in until the forlorn, sobbing people slunk through the door, desperately looking for even the smallest glimpse of those they had lost. They had all been miserable, and his mom was the one who had caused it.

That didn't mean he wanted her hurt, however. People could change, and so could his mother. He could change her, and they could all be together. Then maybe the sheer _loneliness_ he had felt for years would melt away, replaced by his new family.

It wasn't that his mother didn't love him, she did. That was one thing he was absolutely sure of. It was the fact, that for all her love, she was still very much the Evil Queen. Growing up, his mother had always been a harsh, sharp woman to anyone who had upset her (except for him, after all he was her Little Prince), and despite all of his begging, _pleading_ to be just a little bit kinder to everyone else, she had never stopped. And Storybrooke had always seemed _wrong._ Every year, he would move up a grade, but none of the rest of his class would. Nobody ever left, and bad things happened to those that tried. Everybody would do the same thing, over and over again, and act as if it all was completely normal. Henry had been the only one that aged _at all._ And, worst of all, nobody noticed it but him. He had tried, of course, to point out how strange everything was to people. Only, no one ever believed him. He was that strange Mills boy, the one with the overactive imagination. Then, his mother started to send him to therapy, and suddenly he had become that _crazy_ Mills boy, the one with the _problems_ and absolutely no friends. And every time that someone whispered about him behind his back, or his mother asked him to _please finally get over your delusions,_ loneliness jabbed into his heart a little bit further. But then, when he had hit rock bottom, a book with Once Upon a Time scrawled out on its cover had saved him. More importantly, it gave him hope. _Finally,_ it had all made sense. And he had known what to do. He would find his _real_ mother, and she would bring back the happy endings and save everybody. She would save _him._ And if she had doubted it at first, that was to be expected. Heroes _always_ doubted their destiny in the beginning. (And Henry had always made sure to push aside the little voice in his head whispering that she wasn't doubting her destiny, she just doubted _him.)_ It hadn't _mattered_ that she didn't believe. He believed enough for the both of them.

Now, however, Henry wasn't sure what to do. The curse was broken, and his plans kind of ended there. He knew he needed to do _something_ to fix everything with his family, he just had to figure out what.

He hadn't been planning for long when to mob walked in. They had just arrived from his house (or from what used to be his house, he wasn't entirely sure what his living situation currently was) _,_ and eagerly brought forth the news that the Evil Queen had lost her magic, and that they had almost made her pay for all she did when the royals showed up to imprison her.

Henry felt sick. While they may all be thinking about her as the Evil Queen, he couldn't help but think about her as his mother. For all of her faults, she had been a good mom. She had tucked him in at night, chased away the nightmares, and always been there when he had needed him. Until he started noticing everything _wrong_ about the town. Then, she started lashing out, denying everything, making it seem like _Henry_ was the one that was _wrong._

But that didn't matter now. He could fix this, make everything better. He _had to,_ and he would start now. He would go and visit her at the Sheriff's Station. He wouldn't, _couldn't_ leave his mother sitting all alone in a jail cell. She had to know that, despite everything, he still loved her and wouldn't give up on her.

It wasn't particularly hard to escape the diner. Ruby was too busy coordinating the disgruntled citizens to properly watch him like his mom had asked (Emma, not Regina. Having two mothers was more difficult than he thought), and Granny had already dug up her old crossbow (and where she had been keeping that, Henry had no idea) and was attempting to "keep the peace." All he really had to do was walk out the door and down the street. It was almost disappointing, really. He had been hoping for more subterfuge.

As Henry walked he passed more and more stunned, stumbling townsfolk and turned his head each time he saw them. He didn't want to risk being recognized as the Evil Queen's son, and be used as a tool for revenge before he even managed to reach the Sheriff's office. The sky was rapidly darkening, and that helped him hide, but he didn't want to bet his life on only the cover of darkness. Soon, the Station came into view.

And something was very, very wrong there.

The door had been ripped clear off its hinges, and a shrill, horrific sound was bursting from the building, a promise of the horrible things he would find within.

Henry didn't hesitate. (Regina probably would argue that that was his Charming family genes at work.) He charged straight through the jagged crevice that once housed the door, and came face to face with a horrific sight. His mother was there, and _something_ was _devouring_ her. That was the only word he had for the terrible, consuming vortex that connected her to some kind of creature. The beast was terrible in itself. Clothed in a tattered robe, its bony, grotesque figure hovered several feet above the ground. And it was _attacking his mother._

" _Mom?!"_

When she didn't answer Henry's scream, he truly began to feel fear. She was going to _die,_ and nobody would really care. Nobody except Henry. Would they even search for her killer? Creatures were usually sent to attack people, Henry knew that. Would they try to find whoever had sent the beast, or would they all just decide that they were better off without the Evil Queen, and not even search?

However, it didn't _matter_ what everyone else would do. They weren't here, he was. And he was going to protect his mother.

Henry wasn't entirely sure what he was doing, he just knew he had to do _something_ to stop that thing. He barreled full force into the figure, grabbing hard on its dark cloak in an attempt to yank it to the side, away from his mom. He felt his left hand catch on a piece of metal, and then a horrible, horrible burning shot up his arm, forcing him to release.

No sooner he had released had he been thrown into the wall by the monster. Blearily looking up, Henry saw his mother gasping for air not far away, barely able to move. Then, he saw the creature that had attacked her slowly turn towards him and lift its hand.

That was Henry's last clear thought. After that, there was an all-consuming _blackness_ to the world around him, as if all the light had been drained away. A horrible hooking sensation had dug into him, threatening to rip him in two. Henry thought he may hear voices, but they were distant and distorted, as if he were underwater. They began to fade further and further away, until one voice cut through the haze, pulling him back to reality.

" _ **HEY!"**_

* * *

In hindsight, perhaps following the mysterious screeching noise hadn't been the best idea.

At the time, it has seemed like the logical thing to do. He had just escaped what may quite possibly be the most pathetically guarded insane asylum in all the realms, and needed to find somebody that actually knew what was going on. Baelfire had found in the past that unearthly screams usually meant that some kind of supernatural creature was on the hunt, and they were typically hunting the most hated person in a given area (which generally translated to him). However, since he was relatively sure that the beast was not in fact after him, it most likely meant that it was tracking the castor of this curse, and she would be the most likely person to have the answers he was looking for.

And so Baelfire followed the trail of screaming car alarms and shattered glass to a mangled building that possessed a sign proclaiming it to be the Sheriff's Station. Just as he arrived, however, he saw a man and two women run in ahead of him. Quietly, Baelfire slipped in after them. He could easily see what was happening and slip out before they noticed him.

However, the sight that greeted him wiped all thoughts of fleeing from him mind. A _wraith,_ of all the cursed creatures out there, had been summoned and was attacking a young boy who had already collapsed to the ground. The three adults who had ran in ahead of him weren't much help, not that there was much they could do to stop it. The two females were being kept at bay by the wind summoned by the Soul-Sucker. The man, whose weapon of choice was apparently a _chair_ , had already been tossed into the wall and hadn't managed to sit back up yet.

That left Bae to help. Baelfire shouted in a desperate attempt to get the wraith's attention.

" _ **HEY!"**_

His hand surged forward, sending out a wave of flames. The wraith fled as the inferno approached, abruptly severing its connection to its victim. With a scream, it crashed out the window, leaving its stunned audience behind. Baelfire watched it leave. He knew that it would be back. It wasn't in its nature to give up its prey so easily

"What the hell was that thing?!" The blonde haired woman had already rushed to the boy and was helping him sit up. Now, seeing that he was rapidly recovering, she was demanding answers.

"A wraith," Baelfire answered, sounding much calmer than he felt. The Evil Queen, who he recognized from wanted posters back in the Enchanted Forest, was also present. She currently was weakly attempting to shove off the assistance of a pale, dark haired woman as she gasped for air. This scene wasn't adding up. The former monarch had obviously also been attacked, and was the most likely target for an assassination. But then why had the boy been attacked? It wasn't in a wraith's nature to strike against bystanders, especially with its prey so close.

"Well why was it here?" She snapped back, irritated by his brief response.

"Gold summoned it," the Queen rasped. "He summoned it to kill me."

Baelfire tuned out the conversation as it quickly descended into childish bickering between the adults. He slowly approached the boy in an attempt not to startle him. This kid had done something, something to make the wraith attack. Bae just needed to know what in order to know just how bad this situation was.

Bae's heart sank. It was so much worse than he had hoped. (And that had been a mistake in itself. Hope only invited disappointment.)

"No, it's Regina's problem!"

"Actually," Baelfire cut in as he picked up the boy's left hand, "it's not."

This brought the surprised adults attention back to him. Apparently they had forgotten about his existence during the course of their argument.

"What do you mean?" The blond woman warily asked.

"It's not hunting her anymore. It's hunting him." Bae gestured to the unfortunate boy sitting next to him.

" _What the hell are you talking about?"_ The woman desperately snarled, her eyes widening.

Baelfire ignored her. Instead, he turned his attention back to the boy. "You grabbed the wraith, didn't you?" Wordlessly, he nodded, his eyes fixed on Bae's face. "And when you grabbed the wraith you touched something, something that burned you?"

" _Yes,"_ came the whispered reply.

With a sigh, Baelfire helped the boy up. "The wraith will be back. You won't want to be here when it comes. You need to find a place more easily defendable."

"What are you talking about? It's gone, you got rid of it with your magical fire stuff! Besides, Gold summoned it to hunt _Regina,_ not Henry! Why would it change targets?" the blonde woman, who was most likely very new to magic based on her questions, replied.

"Wraith's are called forth from their realm through the use of an amulet. Once they're summoned, they can't return until the price of the summoning has been paid, more specifically, the soul of the person marked by the same amulet that summoned them. What's worse, they hunt with a single-minded determination. They can only have one target at a time, and that's whoever's marked. When Henry touched the amulet, he marked himself, which caused the burn to disappear from Regina's hand and appear on Henry's. Unfortunately, Soul-Suckers never give up on their targets. The flames only weakened it. It will be back when it regenerates."

"He's right," the Queen broke in. "It will return, and when it does it will be after Henry." The sheer misery on her face shocked Baelfire. Perhaps the Queen hadn't ripped out her own heart after all.

"What the hell did you do to my son, Regina?" The woman (and Bae should probably figure out her name) spun on the Queen and pinned her with a glare.

" _My_ son," Regina snapped back.

As they argued, Baelfire watched the boy. He was watching his mothers(?) as if this was a familiar scene, on that he was tired of. As he looked on, the boy took on an expression of hopelessness. He looked _lost._

"Your wraith problem," Baelfire interrupted before he could change his mind. "Do you want any help with it?"

"What do you mean?" the man warily questioned.

Baelfire rolled his eyes. "Well based on the state of the Queen and the success of your attempts I'd say that none of you have much experience fighting a wraith. I'd like to offer my assistance."

The dark haired woman with the pixie cut searched his face for ulterior motives. "Who are you?"

"No one of importance."

"That didn't sound like a name"

"That's because it wasn't," Baelfire snapped. "Now do you want my help or shall I go elsewhere?"

"You'd help us but not tell us your name?" The boy's blonde mother (this whole two-mothers thing was going to get confusing) seemed to be the most suspicious of his offer.

"I'm not helping you. I'm helping him," he evenly stated with a nod to the boy. "There's not much time. You need to make a decision."

Blondie tried one last time. "Why would you help him?"

"Because he needs it. I don't require much motivation beyond that."

"Alright," the blonde sighed, "how do we kill the wraith?"

"We can't."

"But you _just said_ —"

"That I'd help _fight_ the wraith. I never said I could kill it. You can't kill something that's already dead."

"You already said that wraith's never give up. If it won't give up and we can't kill it, then how can we save Henry?"

Baelfire paused to think. There were ways to stop something without killing it, but most of them took time and materials, of which Bae had neither. "We need to delay it as long as possible. Soul-Suckers only hunt by night. If we can delay it until morning, then we may have a chance of trapping it."

"A _chance?_ What if we can't delay until sunrise? Why can't you just trap it now?"

"This may come as a surprise to you, but magic is difficult, _especially_ when it comes to dark creatures. If I had my things from our realm, then yes, _maybe_ I could build something that would work. At the moment, however, our best chance would be to buy ourselves some time."

"Not necessarily," interrupted Regina. " If we sent the wraith to another realm, then it couldn't get to Henry. He'd be safe."

"Do you happen to have a portal handy? Inter-realm travel is one of the most difficult magicks there is, and we don't exactly have the resources to make one here."

"Actually," the former monarch answered with a superior look, "I do."

Mr. Chair-Wielder was skeptical of her plan. "But where would we even send it?"

"Where it can't hurt anyone. Our old realm."

"You said Our Land was gone."

At this point Baelfire interrupted. "Wait— _gone?"_

Regina glared at him. "Yes. It was destroyed by the curse. By sending the wraith there, we'll be sending it into oblivion."

Baelfire searched her face before smirking. "Right. Pull the other one, _Your Majesty._ I think it has bells on it."

" _Excuse me?_ I don't recall asking for input from the Peanut Gallery!"

"Do you honestly expect anyone to believe that you, a single sorcerer, managed to destroy an _entire realm_ with your little curse? Dear gods, you'd have to be a special kind of idiot to buy that story!" Baelfire paused when he saw the look on the other adults faces. "Oh. You all bought that story," Bae grimaced. "Sorry."

"Look, we don't have time to debate the current state of the kingdom," Blondie cut in. "We need a plan, and fast."

"How many people were brought over from Our Land?" Baelfire asked Regina.

"All of them. The curse encompassed the entire realm," she replied, daring Bae to argue. He didn't. It was quite unfortunately possible, but only for a very steep price. He wouldn't put it past her to pay it. "Why?"

"Because your plan has its merits, even if we weren't sending the wraith into oblivion. If there's no one in Our Land, there's nobody for the wraith to hunt. It would probably just end up angrily flying around for eternity."

Henry's blond mother had come to a decision. "Regina, where is this portal of yours?"

"My office."

"Alright. David, you and Mary-Margaret go and find something we can use as torches. If fire weakens this thing, then we're going to need a lot of it. I'll take Henry, Regina, and Magical Anonymous over to the town hall to get her portal. Meet us over there as soon as you find something."

"Emma are you sure—," the man, David apparently, started.

" _Yes_."

Slowly he nodded. Before he left he glanced at the newly dubbed Magical Anonymous (who was currently utilizing all his willpower not to roll his eyes at his ridiculous nickname) and said, "Your things from Our Realm that you mentioned may help. What do they look like?"

"Why do you ask?" Baelfire wondered aloud, surprised at this new line of questioning.

"Because I think I have an idea of where they may be."

Instead of answering, Bae walked over to the wind-disturbed desk and grabbed a sheet of paper and a pen. Quickly, he sketched a drawing of his missing property and handed it to David. It wasn't his best work, but it would do. After taking the picture, David and Mary-Margaret wordlessly walked out, leaving the four of them together.

"Alright. We need to get moving. Regina, lead the way," Emma ordered.

The ex-Queen rolled her eyes but obeyed, closely followed by the silent Henry. But before Baelfire could follow, Emma grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"What happens to Henry if we fail?"

Baelfire sighed. This was one question he didn't want to have to answer. "The wraith will steal his soul and take it back to its Netherworld. There, Henry's soul will be tormented for all eternity. There are some ways to reclaim a spirit if it's been recently taken, but they're complicated and dangerous." Baelfire looked the determined mother in the eye, attempting to convey the gravity of the situation. "We can't let it come to that."

She looked back at him, equally grave. "We won't."

* * *

While his moms inspected a large leather box, Henry curiously watched the strange person that had saved him. The boy was an enigma to Henry. He showed up out of nowhere only to defeat a wraith right before it finished _(killed)_ him, with _magic_ of all things. He had offered his help but refused to give them his name. And now he was glaring at his mother's fireplace.

"Are you okay? You look like you're trying to bludgeon the fireplace with your eyes," Henry warily asked. While he had offered to help, they really had no idea about his motives. It would probably be best to be cautious around him.

"There's no matches. What is the point of having a massive stack of wood next to a hearth when there is nothing to light it with?" the boy mumbled in response.

"I don't think my mom actually uses the fireplace. It's more for decoration. What do you need the matches for?"

"It's not the matches I need. I need to burn one of these logs for ash. I can use that to draw runes, but I need something to light the log with."

With a sigh, the boy picked up one of the logs and placed it in the center of the hearth. With a wave of his hand, flames roared to life. Without turning around the boy spoke. "You have a question. Ask it."

Henry hesitated. "Why didn't you use your magic in the first place?"

"All magic comes with a price. You should never amass a debt if there is another way. But that wasn't your real question."

It hadn't been, but Henry didn't know how he knew that. "Why do you know so much about wraiths?" he asked, sitting next to the boy.

"I don't. Not really." He raised a hand to stop Henry's protests. "It's true. Somewhere out there, there is somebody that know ten times as much about wraiths as I do. I only know some of the most basic facts. But what I do know… Well, I guess you could say that wraiths weren't my true goal throughout my research. I was trying to learn how to fight a different creature when I stumbled on information about the wraith. While the two creatures were very different, they were cut from the same cloth. I guess you could call them distant cousins similarity-wise. Only, there wasn't really anything known about what I was fighting. I learned about wraiths in hopes of finding a way to fight my creature."

"Did you? Find a way to fight it that is."

"Eventually." Henry could tell by the look on the boy's face that this strain of the conversation was over. "I believe it is my turn to ask a question."

"Oh. Uh, okay. Ask away," uttered the shocked Henry. He hadn't thought that the boy would want to ask him anything.

"Most people would have never gone near a wraith. Why did you?"

"I just—I wanted to save my mom. Not that I did very well at it."

The last part had been mumbled, but the boy still heard it. "What do you mean? You seem to have succeeded in you goal. Your mother is no longer marked."

"Yeah, well look at where it got us! You're all putting yourselves in danger and it's my fault! Henry glared at his burned hand. "It just feels like every time I try to do something I mess it up."

There was a pause from the other end of the conversation. Then, "Henry, ther— your head is bleeding."

"What?" Henry looked up. The boy was looking at his the side of his head with concern.

"Your head," the boy stated with a gesture. "It's bleeding."

Henry lifted his hand to his head, only to find it came away bloody. "Oh. I guess I hit my head when the wraith threw me into the wall." He hadn't noticed before now. He had been too preoccupied with other matters.

"I can help that if you want," the boy said, glancing at Henry for permission. Seeing it, he raised his hand to the wound. Henry felt a soft pulse, and the boy lifted his hand away.

"I can't heal your hand. The mark won't allow it. Pressure helps though." At this the boy ripped a strip of cloth from his pants. (He was wearing rather strange clothing. Henry wondered if he had just walked out of his home wearing the first thing he had found when the curse broke.) Wrapping the makeshift bandages around the hand, the boy tightly knotted it, causing Henry to wince. "Sorry. There's not much else I can do right now for the pain, but it should hurt less in time."

"Speaking from experience?" Henry questioned, glancing down at his companion's hands. On each of his hands there was a scar, obviously made by a burn. They looked like runes, but not like the one on Henry's hand.

The boy tightened his hands into fists. He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything the door opened.

* * *

"Torches! I know they're old fashioned, but so am I," David announced. "Here kid, something for you too." The man had a bag made from a strange assortment of leathers slung around his shoulder, along with a bow and a sheath of arrows. In Mary-Margaret's hands there was a old but well-cared for sword.

"You found them!" Baelfire exclaimed. He hadn't expected the man's search to yield anything. Yet here he was, holding the few possessions he had brought with him from Neverland. "Thank you. Where were the being kept?"

"Gold's shop. He had my sword and Emma's baby mobile, I thought he may have your things."

"Who is this Gold? You've mentioned him several times, but I don't recognize the name."

"In Our Land he was Rumplestiltskin. Be glad you don't know him."

Only years of playing deadly mind-games with Pan kept Bae from reacting to his father's name. Years, _hundreds of years_ , had passed since he had last seen his Papa. And now, when he finally hears news of him it's to find out that he had summoned a Soul-Sucker to attack Henry's mother. What else had he done since Baelfire last saw him? How many people had been hurt because they had discovered that damned dagger all those years ago?

"So how are those going to help us fight the wraith?" David asked, breaking him from his reverie. In answer, Baelfire took his bow and notched an arrow. He pulled back the string as his finger ghosted over the symbol carved on the grip. When he did, the arrow burst into flames, alight but not consumed by the fire. "That would work," David murmured in reply.

"That wasn't what we really needed," Baelfire responded as he dug through his pack. "Here," he said, pulling an amulet from one of the pockets. The necklace consisted of a dark blue rock hung from a leather cord.

"A rock. Fantastic," Emma sarcastically stated. "How exactly is that supposed to help us?"

"This rock was one of my many attempts at developing the perfect cloaking device. It was eventually circumvented using human magic, but the wraith won't be able to get around it," Baelfire responded.

"Human magic? Did you use it to hide from the creature you were telling me about?" Henry asked, looking at him with interest.

"Among other things."

"How long did it last before it stopped working?"

"Oh, twenty or thirty years or so," Bae responded as he tossed Henry the necklace. "Put it on. I can't completely block the wraith's mark, but this will buy us time while it tries to pick up your trail again."

"Wait, twenty or thirty _years?_ You don't even look sixteen yet," Emma stated, obviously skeptical of his answer.

"Looks can be deceiving," Baelfire answered as he turned to walk back to the fire. "Do any of you have any water? I need some to make a paste from the ashes."

"What on earth do you think you're doing?" Regina snapped, apparently only now seeing the fireplace. "That is only for decoration!"

"I'm sure he was only trying to help—" Mary-Margaret tried to intervene, only to be cut off by the incensed ex-Queen. (And frankly, Baelfire thought her frustration stemmed more from her curse breaking than his use of the fireplace. She was probably just using it as an excuse to get upset.)

"I don't care what he was trying to do! Why are we even listening to some kid that looks like he escaped from a mental institution?"

" _Regina!_ He is here to help us, you shouldn't be insulting him! Apologize to him," the petite woman tried (and failed) to rebuke the Queen (who was quite successfully ignoring her).

"Don't bother. I did escape from the asylum."

"Wait, _what?"_ Emma choked out. _"Why?"_

Baelfire (quite ironically) looked at her as if she had gone mad. "Why wouldn't I? I am not actually crazy, and it's not as if the local asylum was an impenetrable fortress. Honestly, that security was embarrassing."

"No, why were you in there in the first place?"

"Curse," came the succinct reply. This earned a glare from the irate mother, which led to Baelfire deciding to modify his answer. (While he may have defied Pan, that didn't mean he was going to go looking for trouble. He wasn't about to push his luck by refusing to answer her.)

"My curse was to be a patient in Storybrooke Mental Asylum. My insanity was curse manufactured, and when the curse broke, so did its effect on me."

Emma, looked like she wanted to pursue the topic further, but was cut off by a piercing shriek in the distance.

"It's lost the trail," Bae pensively stated as he looked out the window. "That would have only made it angry. We need to hurry before it gets here. Where will we be opening the portal?"

Regina led them through a side door to a large room. "I'll open the portal, you all just make sure that thing doesn't get near my son."

"David, start prepping the torches. Kid, you—" Emma cut herself off before looking to Baelfire.

"What?"

"If we're going to do this we're going to need to at least be able to call you something. I realize you're trying to pull off some kind of mysterious wizard look here, but we can't have any confusion when this thing shows up just because we don't know your name."

This caused Baelfire to pause. It was a valid request, but he couldn't tell them his real name. True Names had power, and he couldn't exactly going handing out his with the amount of enemies he had. "Bailey. Bailey Darling. It was my cursed name… I think." Now that he no longer had to deal with the curse muddling his mind, his cursed identity was coming back in bits and pieces. It was still fractured and uncertain, but at least it was _something._ "You can call me Bae for short."

"Alright then. Bae, start making your ash runes. You can use the water cooler to make the paste."

At this, they all set to work. Baelfire carefully drew the symbol for fire on the ground. If the wraith got too close, he could activate the rune and hopefully it'd act as a giant bonfire. He could never be too sure when it came to using ashes. Chalk would be better, or blood. It would be the most effective if it was carved into stone. He had warded his hideaways back on Neverland that way. Pan was most likely still looking for them.

"Hello, Bailey," said Mary-Margaret as she crouched down next to him.

"You think it's too dangerous and you want me to leave," Baelfire bluntly stated before she could start. It was ridiculously obvious by the soft-spoken way she was approaching this conversation. She was trying to get rid of him without hurting his feelings. Honestly, Baelfire would have found it funny if it wasn't so annoying.

"No! Well, kind of— it's not that we don't appreciate all of your help so far, we do! It's just that this is going to be very dangerous, and we think it's probably best if you go back to your family so that you don't get hurt," she rambled off in an attempt to salvage the conversation.

"My family's dead," Baelfire quietly answered as his hands tightened into fists. "There's no one to go back to. There hasn't been for a long time." It wasn't a lie. The Darlings, the only family that hadn't abandoned him, were long gone. He would _never_ find his way back to them, and was a fact that would hurt him for every day of his life.

Mary-Margaret responded, but Baelfire wasn't listening. Instead, he was focused on a bulb that was flickering over and over again. This bulb was soon joined by another. Then, another. Slowly, Baelfire reached back into his sheath and pulled out an arrow. As he stood up, Bae notched the arrow and drew back the bow. "Henry, I need you to walk behind the symbol. Get space between yourself and the door. Regina, you'd better open that portal." His finger brushed the rune on his bow. The arrow began to burn.

"Bailey what—"

The door exploded inwards as the wraith shot into the room. _"Do it now Regina!"_ Baelfire shouted as he fired his first shot. The creature quickly veered out of its path, with only the ends of its robes getting hit. Without hesitation, Baelfire loaded another shot, walking forward as he aimed. When he reached the partition, he fired again. A soft nudge from his magic closed the gates and set them alight. The wraith began to lash out with its magic. Baelfire quickly ducked to avoid the first pulse, loading a third arrow as he went. Spinning to avoid the next tentacle of energy, he raised his bow and fired. _"Regina where is the portal?"_

" _Working on it!"_ Came the harried reply.

" _Work faster!"_

The next strand of magic caught Baelfire in the side, ramming him into the wall. He looked over and saw the wraith glide towards

Henry, its arm outstretched. " _No!"_ Baelfire's hand shot out, sending with it a wave of magic that set the runes alight. The sudden wall of fire caused the wraith to veer to the side…. Right into the portal that had just opened. With a shriek, the creature was sucked through, only to send one last tentacle of magic out after it. It wrapped around the ankle of Henry's mother, yanking Emma in after it.

"No!" Mary-Margaret screamed. "I'm not losing her again!" With that (confusing) statement, she leapt in after her, disappearing into the swirling vortex.

"Neither am I!" David yelled as he leapt. A moment later and he, too, had vanished to a different realm. No sooner had he gone had the portal disappeared, severing its connection with the other world. Baelfire was stunned (which was, all things considered, fairly hard to do). Had the person that appeared to have the most authority in this town just been taken to another dimension? Had the two people who appeared to be the next most authoritative _jumped in after her?_ This was (just a tad) worrisome for the already hysterical town.

It appeared that things were going to get much, much worse before they got better. Because no sooner had the portal closed had Regina taken one look at the hat and kicked it into the flames. " _Regina, no!"_ Baelfire quickly deactivated the rune and rushed forward, but it was already too late. He held the hat to the ground and tried to spin it but to no avail. The hat was far too damaged to sustain a portal. He wouldn't be getting the three of them back that way. He turned his furious gaze onto Regina. "What have you _done?"_ Henry _cared_ about these people, and they cared about him. Regina had taken Henry's _family_ away from him!

Just like Pan had taken the Darlings away from Bae.

"I've gotten back my happily ever after," she stated, evenly meeting his gaze.

Before Baelfire could scream at her, _because didn't she even care how this would affect Henry_ (and he'd psychoanalyze himself later to find out why _he_ cared so much), they both froze at the sound of Henry's voice.

"Mom?" His voice sounded hollow, as if he was still trying to figure out what had happened. Or perhaps he had figured it out, and just didn't want to believe it.

"Henry," Regina exclaimed as she walked over to the shell-shocked boy. "It's okay, it's gone, you're safe now."

"Wha-what about my mom, m-my grandparents?"

"I'm sorry Henry, but they're gone. I don't think we can get them back."

"No, you're not! They're gone _because of you_! You really are the Evil Queen. I don't want to see you again."

"No, don't say that! I love you."

"Then prove it! Get my mom and grandparents back! Until then, leave me, leave _everyone_ alone!"

"But where will you go?" Regina asked, aghast.

"I don't care," Henry replied, obviously trying to hold in tears. "As long as it's not with you." At that he he turned and left the room. Regina watched him leave.

So did Baelfire. This was a horrible idea. Henry probably had tons of friends he could stay with, plenty of people to take care of him. He didn't need a broken little lost boy like Bae dragging him down.

"Hey kid! Henry! Wait up!" He'd just make sure that Henry knew where he was going. Then, he'd disappear from the boy's life, and would never have to risk letting all his problems bleed into Henry's world.

Baelfire had always been horrible at lying to himself.

* * *

Henry was desperately trying to hold the pieces of his shattered heart together. His family was _gone_ and because of his mother he couldn't get them back. No, it was because of the _Evil Queen_ that he couldn't get them back. Henry had wanted _so badly_ to believe in her, to believe that she could be better. But now, he couldn't. Not after what she just did.

"Hey kid! Henry! Wait up!" Henry didn't stop at the sound of the voice. He didn't want to talk to anyone. "Kid!" The owner of the voice skidded to a stop in front of Henry. It was that boy, Bae. The one that had been helping them before everything had gone so wrong. Henry stopped and looked at him. He wouldn't cry, he wouldn't cry, he _wouldn't cry._ He could not have a complete breakdown in front of someone he barely knew.

Bae didn't ask if he was alright, and for that Henry was grateful. He wasn't okay, he didn't feel like he ever would be okay, but he didn't want to have to say it out loud. Instead, the boy asked, "Do you know where you're going, kid?" That made Henry frown. He didn't, not really. He just knew that he couldn't be in the same house as the Evil Queen. The boy seemed to deflate at this, but tried again, "Alright, do you have someone you can stay with? Someone who can watch after you until we get your family back?" Another frown, and then Henry slowly shook his head. Who could he stay with? He didn't have any friends. There was Archie, but he lived in a small, one room apartment that barely fit him and Pongo, let alone Henry. Ruby and Granny had always been fond of him, but his mother had never really wanted him near them, so he didn't know the two of them outside the diner. Who else was there? The dwarves? They were friends with his grandparents, but Henry had never even spoken with the majority of them.

There was an unreadable expression on Bae's face. With a sigh, the boy forced a smile on his face. "What a coincidence. Neither do I. Any chance you'd want to stick together until we figure it out?"

Henry looked over the boy carefully. He didn't know him, didn't even know his real name. The boy would probably be better off without him. He obviously knew how to take care of himself, and didn't need someone like Henry dragging him down. Henry was about to say no, about to tell the boy that he didn't need the charity, he'd find his own way when he stopped. Something in the boy's eyes told him that he was just as alone as Henry. Slowly, Henry smiled and nodded. They could figure it out, together. They'd find somewhere to stay while they figured out how to get his mom and grandparents back. Then, Henry could have a family again. And so could Bae.

* * *

 **Second chapter done! I always wondered what would happen if David had also made it through the portal, so now I have the chance to create a storyline where it did happen. I also was always kind of upset that they both tried to go through. I know that they didn't want to loose their daughter again, but they had a kingdom and a grandson to worry about.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Alright I'm kind of worried about this chapter. My reaction to the curse is more severe than the one shown in the show, but keep in mind that the curse brought over criminals, peasants, and royalty and mixed them all together without regard to family ties or past feelings towards one another. There's going to be a lot of confusion in the aftermath.**

 **In regards to the price of magic: like the show, I'm not going to specifically assign a price to every little bit of magic used. That'd just be tedious. I will give really major bits of magic a price, but otherwise you can use your imaginations. With Baelfire, I see him as weighing the prices. If the repercussions of not using magic outweighs the repercussions of using it, then yes, he will use his magic. If he is able to do something without magic and doesn't put anybody at risk by not using it, then he's going to abstain from using magic.**

 **Special shout out to** ArdeaSpark, **thanks for the great review! Also, thanks to everyone who followed and favorited. Okay, that's it. Enjoy.**

 **Of Broken Families and Shattered Souls**

 **Chapter Three:** In Which The Seven Dwarfs Form Their Own SWAT Team, And Baelfire Learns That He May Quite Possibly Be Getting A Pickaxe

The first thing Emma was aware of was the heat.

Last time she had been outside, there had been the unmistakable chill that comes from a Maine autumn. Now, however, there was a type of heat bearing down that she would have expected in the summer.

Emma cracked open her eyes only to wince and close them again. Her entire body hurt, as if she had had fallen off Henry's castle.

Henry.

Emma's eyes flew open to an unfamiliar landscape. No wraith. No Henry. No Storybrooke. She had gone through the portal, to the Enchanted Forest (and if someone had told her that this would happen twenty four hours ago, she would have had them committed). She tried to get up, only to stop when she realized she couldn't move her hands apart. Someone had bound her arms with rope, as well as her legs.

"Stop struggling," a voice commanded. Normally, Emma would have told them to screw off, but the cold steel touching her throat was extremely convincing. She stopped struggling.

"Who are you?" Emma asked in challenge. The figure in front of her was clad in a some kind of samurai-looking ensemble, with a helmet covering their head. The sword pushed harder against Emma's throat. (And, really? A sword? What even was her life anymore?)

"Someone you have greatly wronged. Someone who will see that you are brought to justice for what you have done."

Yes, apparently Emma's day could get weirder. Her parents were royalty? Sure. Her son's adoptive mother was a Disney villain? Why not? And now there was a archaic-weapon-wielding, armor-clad person who was trying to be as cryptic as they possibly could threatening her with "justice" for an act Emma wasn't entirely sure she had committed. Seriously, how much stranger could her life get?

* * *

"So why are we breaking into my grandma's apartment?" Henry asked.

"It's not breaking in. It's more like entering with delayed permission. Besides, you have a key," Baelfire rationalized. Living on the streets of 19th century England (and honestly, Oliver Twist really didn't do justice to just how bad it was back then) had slightly blurred the lines of legality for Baelfire. Back then, there had been little to no sympathy for the homeless and the orphaned, and Bae had had to do some questionable things to survive. Finding Wendy, with her generosity and compassion, had been a rare experience for a street kid.

"You're picking the lock. I'm pretty sure this is illegal no matter what way you look at it," Henry replied. It was true that Henry had a key, but accessing the key was a bit more complicated. It was located in Henry's backpack, which was in turn located inside the locked apartment. Apparently it had been left behind when Henry had collapsed (a topic that Baelfire was fully intending to interrogate Henry on, along with how exactly Mary-Margaret and David were his grandparents), and all the other keys to the apartment had been taken through the portal with Mary-Margaret and Emma.

Which somehow led to Baelfire kneeling in front of the door, attempting to pick the lock with a twisted paper clip Henry had found in his pockets. They weren't breaking in, not really. This was Henry's family's apartment, they were just unable to ask for permission to enter at the current time (mainly due to the fact that the owners of the apartment had been stranded in an alternate realm). Frankly, Baelfire wasn't entirely sure what had led them to decide to come here. Before the mess with the wraith, Bae had been planning on walking to the nearest forest and finding shelter there (he had, after all spent most of his life living in forests and jungles) but that plan had changed the moment Henry had decided to come with him. They had spent several minutes debating where they should go, until Henry mentioned that his family had an apartment that was currently out of use (once again, its inhabitants had quite literally dropped off the face of the earth), and they probably wouldn't mind them staying there if it meant that he wasn't near Regina.

A click came from the door and Bae smiled up at Henry. "It's all in the tumblers."

"Where did you learn how to do that?" Henry asked. Baelfire had first figured it out in London when he had picked the lock on the door of a workhouse and taken off to live on the streets. He may have been starving in the streets, but he had been starving in the workhouses too, and at least he wasn't getting regularly beaten on the streets. He wasn't about to tell Henry that, though.

"Uh, I taught myself. A long time ago," Bae uttered in response as he swung the door open. Henry walked in, followed closely by Baelfire.

"You know, you should probably change into something that makes you look less like a fugitive," Henry told him.

"Oh, yeah. I guess you're right," Bae answered. He flicked his hand and the baggy clothes were engulfed in smoke. Jeans, a long sleeved dark green shirt, and a brown leather jacket replaced them. Bae was fairly sure this was the standard attire for this realm. "Better?" he asked, but Henry didn't reply. Baelfire looked up and saw him. Henry had sat down at the counter and was resting his head on his arms as he stared miserably at a picture of a smiling Mary-Margaret and Emma. "Henry…" Baelfire started before he stopped. What could he say to make this better? "We'll get them back. I promise."

"How do you know that?" came the forlorn response. "What if we can't get them back? You said yourself that inter-realm travel is one of the hardest types of magic."

"That's true, I did say that. _But_ what I didn't tell you was that I have spent centuries studying that very same magic. Henry, if there is a way, and there _is,_ I promise you I will find it."

Henry looked at him with something akin to hope. " _Centur—"_ A ring came from the cell phone lying on the counter, cutting Henry off.

"What is that?" Baelfire asked.

"My mom's cell phone. She must have left it behind when I ate the turnover." Before Baelfire could question him about _that_ confusing statement, (and really, they had only met because Bae had been looking for answers. He should probably actually _get_ some) Henry answered the phone. "Hello? No, the Sheriff's not here. What's wrong?" A pause. "Wait, what? Hello? Hello?" Henry adopted a panicked countenance, and pulled the phone from his ear.

"What's happened?" Baelfire demanded.

"Some former bandits have taken control of the Rabbit Hole and are demanding a way back to the Enchanted Forest in exchange for their hostages," Henry answered, his eyes locking worriedly with Bae's. "It sounded really bad on the phone."

"Okay, stay calm. Who's in charge of problems like this?"

"My mom. But she's…."

"Gone," Baelfire completed with a sigh. "Is there anybody else?"

"I'm not sure," Henry replied as he bit his lip. "Maybe some of my grandparents' friends could help, but I don't really know any of them."

Bae came to a decision. "Is there anywhere safe you can stay while I handle this?" he questioned as he picked up his bow.

"Wait, _handle it?_ What are you going to do?" Henry asked in shock.

"I'm not sure. _Something._ I can't abandon those people. Who knows what will happen to them when we can't produce a portal. But I can't just leave you here. This town is going to hell, it's not safe."

"I could go to Granny's," Henry said, then winced. "Though she's probably really upset with me. I kinda ran out on them earlier."

Baelfire didn't have time to get answers about what that meant (as had become the recurring theme tonight). Instead, he held out his hand to Henry. "Focus on where we need to go," he said as Henry grabbed his hand. Then, he waved his hand over their heads, and the two lost boys disappeared in a golden haze.

* * *

Apparently, things could get much stranger.

Mulan was here. As in the most kick butt Disney princess ever, Mulan (even though she wasn't technically a princess, Emma was fairly sure Mulan was still classified as one by Disney). As in who every little girl wanted to be when they grew up, Mulan— or at least the self-empowering ones. There were those who wanted to have Prince Charming ride to the rescue, slay the dragon, and wake them up with True Love's kiss, the ones who wanted to be Sleeping Beauty. Who also happened to be here. And they were both royally pissed at Emma and her parents (yep, that still felt weird).

Bailey had based his agreement to the plan off the idea that there was no one in this realm. That, however, was a total misconception seeing as Emma was chatting with two fairytale characters, both of which hated her for no conceivable reason. Really, you'd think that they'd at least tell her what she was charged with, but apparently they were too busy brooding.

Emma sat propped up against a rock as they waited for David and Mary-Margaret to wake up. Yes, _both_ of them were here. It was for this reason that Emma was joining Mulan and Aurora in the "Royally Pissed Club." If they were both here, who was looking after Henry? Regina? The last thing her son needed was to be stuck with the person who had tried to frame him as crazy while his family was trapped in another realm. Emma wondered how the town was faring. For some reason, she wasn't that optimistic about the current state of Storybrooke. When they had left, mass property damage had been committed by the wraith and the people had been rising up into mobs. The only people resembling an authority figure pre-Curse had been her and Regina, and seeing as post-Curse the citizens had tried to lynch the (now former) mayor, it had just left her. Now that she was AWOL, the town might as well be considered lawless.

The warrior was glaring at her again. She had taken off her helmet and sat down across from her over half an hour ago, periodically glowering at her as they waited. Currently, she was sharpening her rather large sword in a _totally_ unthreatening manner. Emma sighed. She really, really wished she hadn't fallen through that hat.

The sound of shifting rubble came from the side. Emma glanced over. It looked like Mary-Margaret and David were finally awakening. Maybe now she could get some answers.

Henry and Baelfire materialized on top of the counter in Granny's Diner, much to the shock of its patrons. Not that there were many of those. When Henry had left, the place had been packed full of disgruntled citizens. Now, only Archie, Granny, and the Seven Dwarves were still there. Based on the closed sign on the front door, Granny had kicked them all out while they figured out what to do.

"And just where have you been young man?" Granny challenged after the two boys hopped down from the countertop.

"It's kind of a long story," Henry answered uneasily. Granny had been scary before the curse broke, and now that she had a crossbow and memories of war she was terrifying.

"Uh-huh," Granny said, clearly not impressed. "Ruby has been out looking for you for hours. And who is your friend?" She asked, glancing at Bae suspiciously.

"Bae. And none of that's important right now! Emma and my grandparents are gone and bandits have taken the Rabbit Hole hostage! We need your help!"

"What do you mean _gone?"_ Grumpy asked.

"And does why does that kid have a sword?" questioned Sneezy.

"And what do you mean _gone?"_ wondered Happy.

" _Hostage?"_ asked Doc.

"And what do you mean _gone?"_ chimed in Bashful.

"That's not important!" Bae snapped. "We need to get to the Rabbit Hole!" Bailey hesitated. "Where is the Rabbit Hole?"

"Everybody calm down," interrupted Archie, ever the peacekeeper. "Now, Henry, can you tell us what's happening?"

Henry took a deep breath. "Mr. Gold summoned a wraith to kill my mom but then I grabbed it and was marked so it started to try and kill me instead, but then Bae showed up and chased it away with magic. We decided to send it to the Enchanted Forest with the Mad Hatter's hat so that it couldn't hurt anyone, and it worked but it dragged my mom, Emma that is, in after it and David and Mary-Margaret jumped in after her but we can't get any of them back because my other mom kicked the hat into fire and now it's broken. I wouldn't go back with my mom and Bae didn't have a place to go so we decided to stick together, only we found Emma's cell phone and answered it when it rang and a bunch of bandits have gotten together and taken over the Rabbit Hole and now they want a portal in exchange for their hostages but we don't have one anymore. Now Bae says he's going to 'handle it,' but you guys can't let him go alone! He may be really scary when he wants to be, but nobody should fight alone! So one of you needs to go with him to the Rabbit Hole to stop the bandits!" Henry finished with a gasp, then looked around at the others. They all gaped at him with dumbstruck expressions. Every one of them was silent. Except for Bae.

"I'm _scary?"_ he demanded with a frown. "I'm not scary!"

"You fire flaming arrows at wraiths and send waves of fire at your enemies with a flick of your wrist. You're definitely scary when you want to be," Henry shot back.

"Alright! Whether he's scary or not, we can't have a kid handle a hostage situation! The dwarves will handle it," Grumpy cut in.

"If he even is a kid," Henry mumbled as he flopped into a booth.

"What?" Bae and Grumpy/Leroy asked together, then glared at one another.

"'Twenty or thirty years?' 'Centuries?' How old even are you?" Henry asked.

"Oh," Bae winced. "Right. You know, I'm not entirely sure. I'm just terribly unskilled at aging. Absolutely no talent at it— never mind, that's not the point," Bailey shook his head then looked at Leroy. "My age isn't important. I can handle anything that happens. Besides, my magic can get us there a lot faster than walking," he said as he faced the dwarves. "All I need is someone to focus on where we're going."

Leroy glanced Bae over with a considering look. "You any good with that sword?"

Bae smirked. "Very."

The dwarf sighed. "Good. You'll need it. Alright, gather round men! We're going to the Rabbit Hole," he declared, then looked at Bae. "Okay, Magic Boy. Do your stuff."

Bae rolled his eyes and lifted his arms. "You people have zero creativity at nicknames. Really, am I only identifiable by my magic?" he complained as he twisted his hands. Gold smoke tinged with puffs of silver swept up from the floor and wrapped around the dwarves and the wizard. The fog cleared, and they were gone.

"Well," Henry stated, looking up at Granny. "I think that will go well."

* * *

"Em… Emma! Emma?" Snow gasped when she woke. Her heart jumped with fear. Her daughter couldn't be missing _again._ Snow _couldn't_ lose Emma again. Not after she just got her back.

"Thank you for joining the party, Mary-Margaret," came her daughter's voice. "How's David?"

Snow's heart almost stopped with relief. Her daughter was here with her, _like she was always supposed to be._ She tried to get up, to go to her, to make sure her daughter was alright when she stopped. Her hands were tied, along with her feet. She glanced around and saw an annoyed Emma and groggy David, both also bound.

"You're all awake. Good. We have a long march ahead of us," a female voice flatly stated. Snow's head snapped towards the sound. A oriental female wearing the armor of a warrior was standing near her daughter, currently sheathing her sword. Near her there was another one, dressed less practically in a dress and shawl. While the warrior had a stiff, practiced countenance, the other woman looked devastated. She glanced at Snow, and adopted an expression of absolute hatred.

"Uh, _march?_ Where are we going?" her daughter _(her daughter!)_ asked.

"A place where you will be brought to justice," came the sharp reply.

"Really, _justice?_ Can we at least know what you're accusing us of?"

The soldier pinned her daughter with a glare and slowly began to walk towards her. "You brought the wraith here." Step. "The wraith that attacked Phillip." Step. "Phillip is _dead_ because of _you."_

"He's not dead," Emma responded, shocked.

" _What?"_ the two unknown women asked together.

* * *

"Alright, so how are we going to do this?" asked one of the dwarves (Baelfire still wasn't sure which one was which. He was fairly sure they were all named after emotions. Which one was this, Smiley? Joyful?).

Bae looked over the seedy bar with a practiced eye. The curtains were drawn over the windows, and the door was locked. "We can't just go barging in. We don't know anything about the people in there. Somebody could get hurt."

"Can't you look inside with magic?" questioned another dwarf. (Who was he? Allergies?)

"It's not that simple. I have no scrying bowl, no ingredients, nothing to channel an image. Besides, using magic in combat situations is always dangerous. You never know if a price will be taken in the middle of a fight," Bae paused as he focused. "Is there a back door?"

"Yeah," Leroy (at least Baelfire knew _his_ name. Thank goodness for name tags.) answered, nodding towards an alleyway. "Through there."

Bae walked to the door, a half-formed plan in his mind. The dwarves closely followed, barely tolerating his presence. Baelfire ignored them. There was a way around this problem, he knew it. He just had to find it. Bae smirked when the last part of his plan clicked to place in his mind. "Hey, buddy," he muttered as he crouched down to pick up the rat. "I've got a job for you."

"He does know that's a rat, right?" one of the dwarves loudly whispered. Baelfire ignored them.

A few minutes later, the newly picked lock in the door clicked open. "You all know what to do?" Bae asked, glancing at his companions and receiving nods in return. "Good. This should only take a few minutes, then we'll have all the information we need. Just make sure to handle anyone that comes along while I'm out of it."

"This better work, Magic Boy," grumbled Leroy.

"It will," shot back Bae. Then he looked into the rat's eyes and felt his magic twist in his gut. This wasn't switching consciousness', not really. He was more superimposing his mind over the animal's. It wasn't dangerous, not if you knew what you were doing, which Baelfire did. Back on Neverland, Bae had only two hobbies: escape and irritating Pan as much as humanly possible (and he had become incredibly accomplished at both of those things). About a hundred years into his confinement, Baelfire had figured out how to use animals to spy on Pan. All he had to do was push his consciousness over the animal's, and the boy-demon was none the wiser. That way, Bae could monitor the Lost Boys every plan (and watch Pan's rather spectacular temper tantrums over Baelfire outsmarting him) without actually being at risk. This would perfectly suit their purposes now. The hostage takers would never notice a small rat in the room, and wouldn't care if they did.

Superimposing was always strange. For one thing, he could always feel the animal's mind running underneath, a constant stream of foreign thoughts and urges. Also, how everything looked also changed. Now, as Bae entered the mind of the rat, the world grew. He quickly scuttled through the back door and into the bar. The building reeked of alcohol and vomit, especially to his now sensitive nose. Soon, he heard the whimpers.

The hostages were all grouped together in the back of the bar, bent over with their heads on the ground and their hands on their heads. Armed men paced the bar agitatedly, not paying any attention to the small rat watching them. They all had a strange, roughly drawn tattoo on their left arm. It looked consisted of a dark snake wrapped around their wrist, baring its fangs to the world. They appeared to be led by the drunken idiot stumbling around the floor, waving his sword randomly as he slurred out orders. Apparently David hadn't been the only one who went to Mr. Gold's for their old weapons. (And Baelfire tried very, very hard not to flinch at the reminder of his father.)

Baelfire quickly memorized the bandits locations before severing his connection with the animal. He shook as he reentered his own body. "Well, what happened?" Leroy demanded. Bae looked at them. While he had been 'gone' one of them must have gone looking for weapons, because all of them had makeshift bludgeoning tools, mainly boards and metal pipes.

"Twelve of them. All armed, identifiable by the tattoo of a snake on their left arm."

"We know them," Leroy grimly stated. "They were a problem back in the Enchanted Forest. We were going to send out a patrol to deal with them, but with the curse…"

"Well, we'll just have to deal with them now," sneezed the dwarf in the pharmacist's coat. "What's the plan?"

Bae bit his lip as he thought. They needed to get the civilians to safety, but he didn't exactly trust any of their negotiation skills. None of them would be able to talk the criminals down from this ledge. "If someone created a distraction, then the rest of us could sneak the hostages out the back. That way they wouldn't be in danger in case of a fight."

"Well, who could be the distraction?" asked the inanely happy one. They all looked at Bae. He sighed. He really, really shouldn't have followed that mysterious shrieking noise after escaping the asylum.

Baelfire had several options for a distraction. He could try his hand at reasoning with them, even if he unsure of his abilities in hostage negotiations. He could promise a portal in a bid for time.

Instead, Bae decided to insult them.

His magic transported him into the bar, leaning against the wall that faced the hostages. Several of the bandits widened their eyes and raised their weapons, but before they could say anything, their so-called leader began to speak. "I guess the Sh-Sheriff didn't rea-real-realize the urg-urgency of our de-demands," he slurred. "Maybe a dead hostage would per-persuade her."

Baelfire rolled his eyes. Honestly, just because you were holding up a place with liquor it didn't mean you had to drink it in the middle of the crime. "Yes, thank you for demonstrating to everyone here the effects alcohol has on decision making. Your little show has been very enlightening," he replied in a bored tone. Every bandit spun to face him (with the more drunken ones almost falling over in their haste). Bae could see the dwarves slowly approach from the back. He needed to keep the criminals from turning around.

"You're not the sheriff," one of them observed (and frankly, with how drunk they were, Baelfire was surprised they had the mental capacity to figure that out).

"How astute of you. If banditry doesn't work out, you should become a detective and really put those deductive skills to work. Now that we have established that I am not, in fact, a blonde female with a fondness for red pleather, can we get down to business?" The dwarves reached the hostages and began to lead them out of the bar.

"We talked to the Sheriff, not you. Why are you here?" another bandit, one of the few that wasn't completely inebriated, chimed in.

"Technically, you spoke with the Sheriff's _son_ , not the Sheriff. Either way, she's not here, I am. Now, shall we talk about why we're all here?" The dwarves had almost half the hostages out.

"Right," slurred the "leader," waving his sword in a wide arc that several of his men had to leap out of the way to avoid. "We want a way back to the Enchanted Forest. Or things is gonna get ugly for them hostages."

Baelfire stared at them. " _Seriously? That's_ your plan? You all may quite possibly be the worst bandits I've ever seen." Leroy shot a glare at him. Bae ignored him. They wanted a distraction, well, he was distracting, and the dwarves had snuck most of the captives out right under the nose of the incompetent felons anyways. "You all didn't think that maybe if we found a way back, we'd take the entire town, making your entire plan unnecessary? No, instead, you broke into a _bar_ and held its patrons hostage while helping yourselves to the liquor," Bae ranted, trying to keep his worry from showing on his face. There were still a few hostages left, but the dwarves had stopped and were staring at the one in the lab coat. He was currently desperately trying to hold in a sneeze, and appeared to be fighting a losing battle. Several of dwarves closest to him shoved a finger under his nose. He relaxed, and his friends removed their hands. Bae held in a sigh of relief.

" _ACHOO!"_

"Damn," Baelfire swore as he drew his sword. "Get them out of here!"

The bandits, finally noticing that they had been played for fools, drew their weapons as two of the dwarves ran out the last of the innocents. Baelfire intercepted the head idiot's sword as it fell. "I bet you're wishing you hadn't drank that much now," he commented as they exchanged blows. Bae flicked his sword and disarmed the man with the move, sending it spinning into the air. He grabbed it by the hilt as it came back down, pointing both swords at his opponent. The bandit looked blearily at the two blades, and promptly threw up. Bae stopped to look at the now bent over moron, then rammed the hilt of his sword into the man's head. Then, he looked to see how his companions were faring.

Baelfire reminded himself to never underestimate a dwarf. The gray haired, bespectacled one was currently breaking a large wooden board over the head of a bandit as he ducked another bandits attack. He hurriedly smacked the remains of the newly broken board into the back of the head of a third bandit before ramming his foot into the side of a fourth. Leroy parried blows with his lead pipe, then reached behind him to grab a large whiskey bottle. He swiftly took a swing of the spirit before crashing it into the face of his opponent. Not about to be left out, Baelfire entered the fray. The bandit's sword was badly balanced, with a too heavy grip and a too light blade. Bae tossed it up in the air and caught the blade between the tips of his fingers. He drew his arm back and whipped the sword through the air. The weapon rammed home in the wall of the bar, effectively pinning the sleeve of a bandit before he could club a dwarf over the head. The strange, silent dwarf in the purple hat nodded his thanks to Bae before continuing to fight. A few minutes later, the last bandit had fallen and the Seven Dwarfs (plus one) had won.

"We can keep them at the Sheriff's Office for now," stated Leroy as he tried to catch his breath. "We'll figure out what to do with them at the town hall meeting tomorrow."

"Right," Bae said, wincing. "About that. The Sheriff's Office is slightly… broken."

"Broken," Leroy dead panned, staring at the wayward wizard. (And Bae was fairly sure that he had done nothing to deserve that look. The current state of the local jail was _not_ his fault… for once.)

"Only slightly. Or well, mostly. The wraith didn't care much for doors." They were still staring at him. "Okay then… I guess I'll go fix it… You all make sure the hostages are okay," he commented, turning on his heel as smoke began to sweep up from the ground (and recently he had been using that so much more than he would prefer). Baelfire took the criminals with him. It would just waste his time to go back for them.

He snapped his fingers and the trashed jail flew back together. The bars of the cell wouldn't be as sound as they would otherwise be if fixed without magic, but Bae couldn't help that. They needed the jail, and magic was the only way to fix it fast enough. Another twist of magic and the moronic criminals were in the cell. They'd probably wake up the next morning with bruises and hangovers. Strangely enough, Bae didn't pity them. For extra measure, he set up wards around the prison to make sure they couldn't get out. Then, Bae spun on his heel to travel back to the Rabbit Hole. Ambulance lights flashed as frazzled emergency workers helped the victims into vehicles, aided by the dwarves.

"The bandits are locked up. They probably won't wake up tonight, but if they do they won't be able to get out." Before anyone could reply, Emma's cell phone buzzed. Henry had given it to Bae, not that he knew how to use it. While Bailey Darling had used a cell phone, Baelfire hadn't touched one until Henry had shoved it into his hand. Fumbling, he pulled it out of his pocket and tried to flip it open. It took him six attempts in four different orientations to figure out how to answer the phone. By that time, the call had already gone to voicemail. Bae looked at the small screen. **87 missed calls** flashed up at him. Baelfire groaned. Apparently Emma had missed quite a few calls while they had fought the wraith. "This town is falling apart." It was true. Even now, Bae could see fights breaking out in the street.

"It's the curse. They don't know how to deal with the aftermath. It made them all miserable for thirty years, and now that it's broken they can't handle it," observed the gray haired dwarf that had previously proved his battle prowess with a wooden board. "If we could just calm them down until the town hall meeting tomorrow, then we could deal with this better."

"Well," Bae sighed as he gestured to the chaotic street, "let's start here." Baelfire walked to a bench and jumped up on it. He looked over the road that was filled with bunches of people, some confused, some depressed, some just plain angry. "Excuse me! If I could get your attention please!" Everyone ignored him. Baelfire let out a shrill whistle. They still ignored him. Bae sighed. This was shaping up to be a really long night. He bunched his hand into a fist and pushed it upwards, blowing his magic out with it. Fireworks shot into the sky and exploded in the air. The people on the street stopped fighting and stared at him. "Thank you." Bae paused. He probably should have figured out something to say before he got everybody's attention. "Now, I realize that the curse has caused a lot of chaos," someone snorted in the distance. Bae ignored them. "But we need to keep our heads. I know that it feels like there is two different people in your mind, that you can't reconcile your cursed identity and your past. The same thing is happening to me. The same thing is happening to your neighbors, to the people you're fighting, to everybody you see. I know you're angry and confused, but that's no excuse to tear each other to pieces. The fact of the matter is, we all got stuck in this town together, and we need to figure this out together. Now, there is a town hall meeting tomorrow. There we can all start to figure this out, but until then you need to go home. And if you can't go home, then stay at the inn, or a friends' house, just stop fighting in the streets. Well…" Baelfire paused. "That's all I have say." He watched the crowd. No one did anything. Then, one person turned around and walked away. Then another. It had been by no means a great speech, but apparently it had been enough. They all left, leaving Baelfire and the dwarves.

"Nice speech," Leroy snorted. "You make that one up on the spot?"

"It was better than nothing," Bae defended. "Besides it worked." Emma's phone rang again. "Or at least it worked for this specific street," he amended.

"Someone needs to take care of all of those calls," the dwarf in the lab coat (and Bae should really figure out their names) stated.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Baelfire answered. "Do you all know how to handle more than a bar fight?"

"Do you?" Leroy shot back.

Bae smirked. This was likely going to be a very long night, but maybe he could get some answers in the process.

He should probably start by figuring out the their names.

* * *

" _What exactly do you mean by that?"_ hissed the warrior.

Quite frankly, Emma wasn't entirely sure what she had meant. All she really knew was that a fairytale prince had been attacked by the wraith, that there was supposedly a way reclaim souls stolen by said wraith, and that the two extremely angry Disney princesses may be interested in learning that fact.

"Emma?" came David's voice. "What are you talking about"

"Back in Storybrooke, I asked that magic kid, Bailey, what would happen if we couldn't stop the wraith. He said that the souls they stole were taken to Netherworlds and that he knew ways to get them back."

" _How?"_ begged Aurora.

"I don't— he didn't say. I was more focused on keeping the wraith away from my son than on what to do if we failed."

"But there is a way," Mulan stated with a determined look. "This Bailey knows it."

"Yeah, I guess so. But he's in Storybrooke."

"Storybrooke, you're planning on finding a way back?"

"Yeah," Emma warily stated.

Mulan drew her sword and stepped towards Emma.

" _Hey!"_ David shouted, desperately struggling against his binds. " _Get away from my daughter!"_

The warrior ignored him. She raised her sword above her head and let it fall. The blade sliced through the ropes binding Emma. Mulan held her hand out to the blonde. Emma warily inspected the hand before taking it. The soldier helped the sheriff to her feet.

"When you return to this Storybrooke, we will come with you. Then, your Bailey will get Phillip back," she stated determinedly. "He has to."

* * *

Ruby had had a very long day.

After the curse broke, Ruby had been trying to help the distraught citizens when Henry had run off. She had rushed off to find him, and ended up in a wild goose chase all across town. She had called Emma at least ten times, but never got a reply. Then, when she finally managed to trace Henry's scent back to him (he was at the diner, right back at where she had started), she learned that Emma and her parents were gone, disappeared to the Enchanted Forest. Apparently there was some wizard of indeterminate age who may be able to get them back, but he had run off with the dwarves to handle a situation at the Rabbit Hole over four hours ago. Before she could go to find out if everyone was alright, about half of Storybrooke had run in demanding rooms to stay in. The curse had thrown together families with no heed to previous relationships, vendettas, or sexual orientation. The only constants were that there was not a single happy family in Storybrooke, and all of them wanted to to stay at the inn instead of at their unhappy households. Ironically enough, the curse breaking generated more business for the inn than occurred throughout the entire duration of the curse that had created it. At the moment, there wasn't a single vacancy.

It was this fact that was causing the dilemma for Ruby. If there was space, they could have given Henry a room, seeing as he was currently refusing to go within a hundred feet of Regina (not that Ruby could blame him, she'd do the same thing if she was in his position). He was claiming that he could stay with the mysterious Bae, who still hadn't returned from the hostage situation. Ruby wasn't so sure. According to Archie, the boy looked no more than fifteen, but no one actually knew how old he was (apparently he was "unskilled at aging," whatever that meant). Ruby was still musing at her quandary when the door opened.

"Somebody get this man a pickaxe, because he is now an honorary dwarf!" declared Leroy (or was he Grumpy? Ruby said one thing while Red said another) as they walked in. Red raised an eyebrow. Dwarves guarded their pickaxes with the same vigor that dragons guarded gold. Why would they give one to someone they had just met?

Ah, that explained it. Doc's glasses were bent at a strange angle and his clothes were torn. Dopey had a cut on his forehead and was cradling his arm. Grumpy had a black eye and a bruised cheek. A teenager she didn't recognize had torn jeans and tousled hair. They had been fighting together (the quickest known way to bond with a dwarf).

"Did you all stop the bandits?" Henry asked. Late as it was, he was still brimming with energy.

"Oh, we stopped the bandits alright," answered the boy (who must be Bae) as he sat across from Henry.

"Along with taking care of eight domestic disputes," chimed in Sneezy.

"Three cases of vandalism," listed Doc.

"And a cat stuck in a tree," finished Happy.

"We also reassured almost every single person in this entire crazy town," noted Bae. "I'm so sorry I took so long. How are you holding up?" he asked Henry.

"I'm fine. Can we go home now? That is," Henry said looking at Ruby, "if that's okay."

And that was the question Ruby had been asking herself since the strange boy had walked through the door. This boy was a complete unknown, could she really let Henry go off with him? But he _had_ helped Emma and the Charmings deal with the wraith, and the dwarves seemed to adore him (or they were as close as a dwarf came to adoring anyone). If Henry didn't go with him, where would they put him? There was no room at the inn, and they couldn't exactly make him sleep in the diner. "Alright," Ruby acquiesced. "But only for tonight. We'll find somewhere for you to stay after the town hall meeting tomorrow."

"Thanks Ruby!" Henry beamed as he shot out of his seat. "Ready Bae?"

"Alright, I'm coming," he laughed. Emma's phone rang. Every dwarf (honorary included) groaned in unison. Ruby walked forward and picked up the phone.

"Sorry guys, your night may not be over just yet. That was the asylum, apparently there's been an escape."

"I think that one can wait until morning," Bae hurriedly replied. Henry snorted. "I'm sure that whoever it was isn't crazy. He—or she is probably an upstanding citizen just put in the asylum by the curse. Henry, time to go." He rose and held out his hand. A laughing Henry took it as a glittering haze enveloped them.

Ruby sighed when they disappeared. Now, she had to figure out how to keep the town from falling apart.

* * *

"So what's the plan? For getting my family back, I mean," Henry clarified.

"We need to get all the information we can about what the Enchanted Forest is like. It'd be a heck of a lot easier to tell them how to open a portal back than to pull them here ourselves," Bae responded. "The problem is I don't have a reliable source about the curse or what it did."

"I do," declared Henry. He swung his backpack to the ground and opened it. Excitedly, Henry pulled out a book. Once Upon A Time glittered out from its cover in gold lettering. "Everything I know about the curse I know from this book," he said, holding it out to Bae.

Baelfire carefully took the storybook and flipped open its pages. The tome was beautifully illustrated, with faces that appeared incredibly life-like. However there was something else, something that seeped outwards from its covers… "This book is magic. Where did you get it?"

"Ms. Blanchard— my grandma— gave it to me. She said it would give me hope."

Baelfire had a feeling it had done a lot more than that, but he said nothing. "It's late Henry. You really should go to bed."

"But I want to stay up and help with Operation Tiger Shark!"

"No buts, you need to sle— wait, Operation Tiger Shark? What does this have to do with tiger sharks?"

"Nothing, that's why it's perfect! No one will know what we're talking about then."

Bae shook his head and laughed. "Alright, Operation Tiger Shark it is. But that doesn't change the fact that you'll be able to focus better after you sleep."

"Fine," Henry grumbled. He marched over to the bed in the corner and moodily yanked closed the curtains.

Baelfire smirked. "Goodnight, Henry!" he called.

"Whatever!" came the reply.

Laughing now, Bae walked over to the couch and sat on it. Then, he stopped. What was he thinking? He had only met this kid a few hours ago, and suddenly he was laughing and smiling with him. With a sigh, Baelfire looked at the scars on his palms. He had had damn good reason to do those, or at least, it seemed that way at the time. Now, he wasn't so sure. Either way, he had made up his mind long ago to give up on finding a family. He only ended up hurt in the end. So why was he here, with Henry? Baelfire shook his head. It was all so complicated. He opened the book. He had promised Henry he would find his family, and no matter what, Bae would keep that promise. He began to read. **Once upon a time there was a…..**

* * *

 **I was planning on having the town hall meeting this chapter, but it was already too long so that part is going to be in the next chapter. In regards to Baelfire's scars: there's a backstory, but you're going to have to keep reading to find it out. Prepare for angst. In regards to Baelfire's age: yes, I am that person who has actually done the math. Bae's around 14 when he ends up in London, but the show doesn't tell us when he's there past the fact that it's in the 19th century (the writers mentioned it in a behind-the-scenes clip).** _ **But**_ **Big Ben is in the background, and that was built in 1859. So we can put Bae's arrival at the earliest 1860ish. Season two airs in 2012, and I gave Emma about a year to break the curse, and I gave Bae about an accumulative year from the time he spent in London and in the Enchanted Forest after escaping Neverland. Now, that means he spent about 123 years in Neverland in Land Without Magic time.** _ **However,**_ **Wendy says that time works differently in Neverland and goes on to describe the Lost Boys' habits at nightfall and during the day, so we know that despite only being gone for a few hours London time, she was in Neverland for at least a couple days. I've put the ratio at about four Neverland days for every one Land Without Magic day, so Baelfire was in Neverland for 492 years. Factor in his age from when he arrived in London (14), and the amount of years he spent out of Neverland and in the curse (30), and that makes him about 536, give or take. Yes, I have put a lot of thought into this. Alright, school starts again Monday, so updates are going to be slower. Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

**So sorry about not updating! School started again and real life smacked me in the face.** **Then, I kept having troubles uploading this to FanFiciton. This is currently my eighth try.** **I'll try to do better in the future, but I can't make any promises. Thank you so much to everyone that followed and favorited!**

ArdeaSpark: **Thanks for your amazing review! Yes, Baelfire's personality is different from the show, it's supposed to be. I believe that how you interact with people is in a big way due to your experiences, and we have seen nothing of Young Bae after Hook's ship. This is placed after that, so he's going to act differently.**

Cammy: **Thanks for reviewing! I'll try to get the updates out quicker in the future, sorry for the wait!**

steelneena: **I probably should have put this in the background information, but I'm ashamed to say I forgot. In regards to Henry's father, I'm actually still figuring that out. There are a few characters I'm interested in seeing if I could make work, but at the moment I'm not sure. At this point, I don't trust my writing abilities enough to make him an OC. I may just use Emma's story of a fireman in the end, but I'm still debating. That won't be addressed until much farther down the road, though.**

Catspook: **At the moment we have seen no Rumple other than references to him, and there's a reason for that. I want to give Bae a solid foundation in this town before his father finds him, so they won't interact until a few chapters down the road. In order to accomplish this I'll have him be referred to as his curse name, Bailey, in front of Mr. Gold. Also, seeing as Baelfire was supposed to be in the Land Without Magic, Gold won't suspect the blatantly magical kid to be his long lost son. I will tell you, however, that he does find Bae before the Charmings get back from their mandatory family vacation, aka when they all got chucked into a hat and landed in another realm.**

 **Okay, I'll shut up now. Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Of Broken Families and Shattered Souls**

 **Chapter Four:** In Which The Town Hall Meeting Quite Literally Goes Up In Flames, And Baelfire Learns The Dangers Of Not Attending The Entire Meeting

"Come on!" Hector urged his siblings, laughing as he ran.

Cassandra watched as her brothers moved ahead of her. They hadn't acquiesced to her pleas to stop, to come back, to _please for once in their lives would they just listen to her_. Nobody _ever_ listened to her _(why listen to her, she's cRaZY)_ , and they always payed the price _(and falling sword and blood and didn't you know all magic comes with a price)_ for it. Just as her brothers would now _(the line had not been drawn yet, but it had already been crossed)_.

Cassandra _(Cassandra again, not the fake not real Alexandra)_ hummed as she twirled the purple stone in her hands. She had long ago made it into a necklace with a bit of chord so that it would always be near. Perhaps she was just imagining it _(fake, unclear, not real, like everything, or was it nothing?)_ , but things had always seemed _clearer_ when it was on hand. She watched her bare feet _(no shoes, they trap, confine, cages)_ as she walked along the road, her dress swishing around her knees. Something would happen soon _(the die has been cast, too late to be called back)_. There would be a loss, or a discovery, she wasn't sure which. For all she knew, it could be both.

"Hurry up, crazy!" her brother Paris shouted at her. "I told you we should have left her at home."

"If we had, she would have woken Mom and Dad with all the racket she was making," her other brother Hector shot back. "I've heard injured cats make less of a fuss."

The curse _(set into motion with a wish and a bean and the deal is struck)_ had only broken a few hours ago _(always meant to be broken, never going to stay, Fate wouldn't let it)_ , and her brothers had already taken advantage of the chaos to sneak out. Their parents had gone to sleep not too long ago, claiming to need their rest to deal with the aftermath tomorrow. Paris and Hector ( _started Paris and Hector, Julius and Lukas had moved in with the smoke, taken over, pushed out with the light, now Paris and Hector once more)_ had decided to use this as an opportunity to run around the town unsupervised.

Cassandra looked up the the sky, stumbling over her own feet. The stars were out _(same in every realm, captured in a coconut, or was that the darkness?),_ and Cassandra made a habit of looking at them whenever she could. She wasn't sure why yet. Maybe it was important. Maybe it wasn't _(puzzle always changes, shifts, slips through the fingers like sand or was it water?)._ They would reach their destination soon, despite Cassandra's every attempt to stop them _(let the strange short man pay the price, not Paris)._ She wasn't sure if the price could be reversed. _(Can the boy with haunted eyes and a shattered soul reverse the price with a wave of his scarred hands, or will it already be too late?)_

"What'd you up to now, crazy?" Paris asked her. Cassandra couldn't fault him for calling her that, not really _(but maybe she should, she wasn't sure)._ She certainly looked the part. Her long brown hair was tangled and her dark blue _(good color, calms, focuses)_ dress had been scrawled over with Sharpie _(draw the future, try and set it in stone, no, wrong, it's etched in sand and changes with the wind)._ Cassandra fixed her unsettling green eyes on her brother and pierced _(daggers and darkness and you can die)_ him with a gaze.

"Don't cross the line blown in red," she begged. "Julius will crawl back inside, push down Paris, make it so he can't get out. Lost Boys and fairies and spinners may not be able to find him again."

"You've lost it," he sneered back at her. "Look, we're here."

With an unearthly scream, Cassandra threw herself at his legs. "No! The light only just drove away Julius! Don't let the smoke back in!" she screamed, desperately pulling back on his legs. It was of no use. Her brother shook her off and walked towards Hector.

"You ready for this?" he laughed.

"Still time to chicken out," Hector teased back.

Cassandra sat on the ground Indian style and gathered stray pebbles from the ground _(change his Fate, recast the die)._ She shook his hand and tossed the rocks on the ground _(three pairs of twos must cast again)._ It was that stupid bet's fault. Hector had dared Paris to be the first one to step foot outside of this town in thirty years _(didn't they know the Queen and the savior's son had crossed long before the line had been needed?)._

"Ready?" asked Hector.

"One," counted Paris. _(Recast the die, change his fate)_

"Two," laughed Hector. _(Too late now, the hand has been dealt.)_

"Three," Paris finished as he stepped over a line that didn't exist yet.

Cassandra screamed.

* * *

Baelfire had barely made it through the second story when the screams interrupted him.

"Henry!" Bae drew his sword and threw open the curtains. Henry was sitting up in the bed, panting as he looked around wildly. Baelfire searched for the threat before he realized the reason behind Henry's turmoil. Bae sheathed his sword. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked awkwardly.

"I had a nightmare," Henry shakily said.

Bae shifted on his feet. If there was one thing he understood, it was nightmares. After all, he had been having nightmares since his father had let him go. However, he had no idea how to go about comforting someone after one. The last person to comfort him after a nightmare had been Hook. One night, he had walked in on a terrified Bae and immediately realized what had happened. Instead of mocking him, as Bae had expected (Bae hadn't been on the Jolly Roger for very long at this point, and still hadn't been convinced that pirates were good), Hook had sat with him and told him stories of his travels until Baelfire calmed down. Eventually, Baelfire told him that he had dreamt of his father abandoning him. Hook had gone into a righteous anger when he heard this, and _promised_ Bae that the crew would never abandon him. He hadn't had another nightmare the entire time he was on board. _Stop._ Don't think about that. Focus on Henry.

Baelfire walked over to the bed and sat down. "Yeah… Nightmares— Nightmares are terrible," he said, then winced. He was in _way_ over his head. "When I was younger and had a nightmare, my father—he was a spinner— used to always tell me to watch his wheel as it spun. Something about it turning would always calm me down. When I fell asleep, I wouldn't have any nightmares."

"Used to?" Henry asked curiously.

"Uh, yeah," Bae gave him a small, humorless smile. "He left me."

"I'm sorry," Henry said softly.

"Don't worry about it. It was a long time ago," Bae tensely answered. "Your nightmare. You can talk to me about it if you want. I mean, you don't have to," he hastily added. "Just if talking would make you feel better—"

"It's fine. I— I was in a room," Henry took a deep breath. "It was burning, with me in it." He looked up at Bae. "I couldn't breath."

"That sounds horrible," Baelfire quietly responded.

"It was just a dream," Henry said, looking down.

"Henry, I—" Bae started, then stopped. "I don't think it was."

"What?" he asked, looking up again.

Baelfire picked up Henry's arm. There was a long burn on his skin. "I think it was real."

* * *

"So did you steal Mary Poppins' bag or something?" Henry asked.

"Should I pretend I know what that means?" After seeing the wound, Baelfire had led Henry over to the table and pulled out his rucksack. Inside, he had a burn salve to help the boy's arm. He quickly applied it and wrapped it with gauze (supplied by Henry, apparently it was better than the strips of cloth Bae would have otherwise used).

"I mean, you have everything in there: medicines, knives, bandages, rocks that hide you from monsters."

Baelfire shot Henry a small smile. "I promise I don't have _everything_ in here. Just the things helpful to survival." He turned over Henry's hand only to freeze. "The wraith's mark, it's gone."

"What?" Henry jerked his hand back and gazed at it. "Where did it go? I thought that you couldn't get rid of it."

"I can't. The only way that a wraith mark disappears is when someone else has been marked."

Henry looked horrified. "My family…"

"Are going to be fine," Baelfire finished firmly. "Even if the wraith did get them, there are ways to get them back. They're going to be okay," he said with finality. He went to tuck the burn salve back in his bag, only to knock it over. A compass, several stones (all with various magical properties) and a necklace scattered across the table.

"What's this do? Henry asked, picking up the necklace.

Baelfire's breath caught in his throat. Henry was holding a small vial hung from braided string. However, it wasn't the necklace itself that caused this reaction, but what it contained. The pixie dust, _Pan's_ pixie dust, was kept in that vial. Peter Pan, with all the power of Neverland behind him, had been able to use it to cross realms. Baelfire, less powerful than the boy-king (though still quite formidable in his own right), had needed a pilfered shadow to take him to the Enchanted Forest. "It's nothing," Bae said, taking the vial from Henry. Yeah, sure, nothing. As if _pixie dust_ could ever be described as nothing. Pixie dust found in the Enchanted Forest was about one hundred times more powerful than regular fairy dust. Pixie dust that had been formed in _Neverland,_ a place that could only be described as a bastion of magic, was one of the most powerful substances in all the realms. "It's just something I found a long time ago." Stole. Something Bae had _stolen_ a long time ago. Baelfire took the necklace and slipped it around his neck. It would be safer there.

Henry didn't look like he bought it. The boy gazed at Bae intently. "You don't trust very easily, do you?"

The former Lost Boy swallowed hard. Dear gods, this kid was smart. He had only known Baelfire for a few hours and was already figuring him out. "I used to," Bae answered honestly.

Henry simply nodded. "So, how can my dream be real?"

"I think you traveled to a Netherworld in your sleep," Baelfire responded, grateful for the change of subject. "What I can't figure out is why. Has anything unusual happened to you recently? Other than the wraith, that is." Bae had already ruled the wraith out as the catalyst for Henry's sojourn into this other realm. The Soul-Sucker would have had to succeed in capturing Henry's soul to get him there, and even if he had, a burning room was the last place you'd find a wraith. This wasn't the Netherworld that held the undead, Baelfire was sure of it.

"I was under my mom's Sleeping Curse. Would that do it?"

"Sleeping curse?" Baelfire asked curiously. Yes, he had finally gotten some answers from the dwarves (they were a surprisingly gossipy group) but that didn't mean he knew everything that had happened while he was in the asylum. "What did it do? Besides make you sleep, that is."

"Here," Henry said uncomfortably. "It's in the book." He quickly walked over to where Baelfire had left the book and picked it up. Flipping the pages as he went, he walked back and placed it in front of the wizard, who began to read. Baelfire eyebrows shot up. No wonder Henry hadn't wanted to discuss it. Your own body as a tomb? Trapped in a world made of your own regrets? It sounded horrible, and exactly like a Netherworld.

"This sounds like it. Is this the first time you've gone there?"

"Yeah. So what is a Netherworld?

"It's a realm, only the lines between it and other realms are blurred. This allows souls to travel there when they sleep, if they meet a prerequisite." Baelfire knew quite a bit about Netherworlds. After all, he had lived in one for hundreds of years. Neverland was technically classified as a Netherworld. Apparently, before the time of Pan, Neverland was a realm made for the sole purpose of providing the lost and unloved children of all the realms a sanctuary for their dreams. After Pan, however, children stopped coming. What Neverland had become could never be described as a sanctuary. "If we can find the prerequisite for this one, we can stop the dreams. Do you have any idea what keeps sending you back there?"

"No," Henry responded miserably.

Baelfire bit his lip as he thought. "Well, I can't just keep sending you back there. It's too dangerous." Henry still needed sleep though. "I think I can set up something that can protect you from the flames while you're there. Maybe once it stops affecting you the dreams will stop too. I don't have the supplies here though. I'll find them today and set it up for tonight."

Henry looked stricken at the thought. " I can't go back to sleep! I won't go back into that room!"

"And I won't make you," Bae reassured. He had had too many night terrors himself to force another to go back to sleep. "Here," he said, walking to the center of the room, where there was a wide open space. "Let me show you what I used to do when I had nightmares." This probably wasn't the most responsible thing to do when you're in charge of an impressionable kid, but Baelfire didn't care. This had been the only thing that had kept him sane (or well, mostly sane) for all those years of restless sleep, and it was the only thing he could think of to help Henry.

"What are we going to do?" Henry asked, joining him.

"I am going to teach you how to fight."

Henry shot him a probing look. "You used to do this to help _nightmares?"_

"Still do. Well, not exactly this. Whenever I had nightmares I would practice my fighting technique. It gave me something else to focus on so I would forget about my dreams." What Baelfire didn't mention was that he originally started this as a desperate bid to survive Pan's "games," not as a coping mechanism. It had, however, helped him forget every time he had a night terrors. Eventually, it got to the point where he spent most nights practicing. This had the unanticipated but welcomed side effect of making him one of the best — if not the best — fighters in Neverland. "Here, stand with your feet apart, knees bent." Henry followed his instructions with a doubt filled look on his face. "No, like this," Bae corrected, kicking Henry's feet into the correct position.

"Okay, now what?" Henry asked.

"Now," Baelfire declared, "we're going to start with dodging."

* * *

Henry was quickly starting to hate the sound of his mother's phone.

Whenever he had heard it in the past, he had loved it, because it meant that his birth mom was there, with him. Now, however, all it brought was bad news and the reminder that Emma was gon— missing. His mother was _missing,_ not gone. Gone meant she wasn't coming back. Missing only meant that she was lost. And lost meant that they would find her again.

Bae walked over and fumbled with the phone. He managed to pick it up right before it went to voicemail. "Sheriff's phone," he gasped. "Ruby? What's happened?" A pause, then a sigh. "Okay. Henry and I will be right there." The mysterious boy/geriatric-in-disguise ( _centuries?)_ glanced at Henry. "I'm afraid we have to get going to Granny's. Apparently there was a disturbance and they want to consult my "magical expertise." Bae made a face at this term, and Henry laughed as he stood up.

Bae swung his pack over his shoulder and they started out the door. "Not fond of being thought of as Storybrooke's resident magic expert?"

"I just realized that now they're probably going to call me when it comes to magical problems," he said with a look of dread on his face. He flashed Henry a grave look. "Henry, if you ever develop magic tell no one. Just keep it to yourself, and you'll be so much happier. Once people find out about it, they tend to break into your house and steal your stuff. When you catch them, they act all self-righteous and demand you give them what they want, usually at sword point. Then, they blame you for the price of magic and swear vengeance. Believe me, it's a headache you don't want."

Henry laughed again, and Baelfire refused to admit how happy the sound made him.

He hadn't made anyone laugh since Wendy.

* * *

Ruby would need at least six cups of coffee to get through today.

Every ten seconds, a new disaster would strike. The town would would have blackouts, the hospital would be vastly understaffed, and people would suddenly realize that they had been trying to kill someone else in the old realm, and decide to revive their efforts. Honestly, Ruby was this close to giving up and letting the town rip itself to shreds.

But she couldn't do that. Snow cared about these people, and Ruby needed to keep them all safe until she got back. Red knew she owed a lot to Snow White. After all, she had been the only one willing to look past the beast.

Red would never forget the night she had to flee from her village. She had been terrified, and guilty, and _so confused_ about what was happening. _She_ was the one that had been terrorizing everybody. _She_ was the monster, not Peter. Peter, who she loved. Peter, who she _ate._ Red had wanted to scream and cry and rage when she had realized just what exactly she had done, but she couldn't stop. If she stopped running, the villagers would get her— the villagers _she had grown up with_ (Thompkins the Baker who had always been willing to take credit when they couldn't afford bread and Jackson who had a crush on her when they were teenagers and always blushed when she looked at him and Andrew the Huntsman who had taught her how to fight and and and)— would _kill_ her, without remorse, for what she was.

A part of Red thought she deserved it.

And throughout it all Snow had been by her side. After they had run until they couldn't anymore, Red had been too afraid to look at her companion. She was _so scared_ that she would see the same disgust in Snow's eyes that she had seen in everyone else's, the same disgust that Red felt towards herself. She had already lost everything else, she _couldn't_ lose Snow too.

Red wouldn't have been able to live with herself if that happened.

But then, Snow caught her eye and Red saw no disgust. Instead, she had seen _concern._ Concern for a _werewolf._ She had very, very quietly asked Red if she was alright, and had watched as she slowly shook her no.

Then, Snow had held her as she cried.

After that, they had been inseparable. Red protected Snow against anything that threatened her best (only) friend, and Snow had done the same. And the pale girl had never, _not once,_ looked at Red in disgust, not even when she was wiping the remains of one of the King's soldiers off her lips. Not only that, her friend had enticed others to risk coming near a werewolf, and through that Red had found lasting friends in David and the Dwarves. Even when Snow had reclaimed the throne she hadn't abandoned Red. No matter how many people insulted the Queen for having a _werewolf_ , of all the horrific _creatures_ out there, on her council, the regent stood firm. Red had a place in court, and Snow put an end to the dissenters' insults towards her friend.

Not that it stopped them from talking about her behind her back, however. The glances, the pauses when she entered a room, and the whispers had never stopped. She was still nothing but a dangerous freak to them, they just couldn't say it to her face without risking the Queen's wrath. Red had always hated that part the most. No matter what she did to prove herself, they would only ever see a beast. If it wasn't for Snow, they would be more than content to kill her and be done with it.

Red was sure this was why the curse had made her Ruby.

The Village Werewolf. The Town Slut. Both very different titles, but with the same end result. More hushed conversations and judgemental stares and people who didn't give a damn about what happened to her. Of course, it was for this reason they would never let her run this town. Their Enchanted Forest side argued she was a werewolf, and therefore not to be trusted. People back there tended to raise their children on stories about evil werewolves who would steal them in the night and eat them for supper if they didn't behave. Their Storybrooke side argued she was nothing but a common whore, and was much too flighty to ever be in charge of decision making. Either way, the citizens had already decided that she was not a good thing for this town, despite the fact that she was keeping her head while they tore each other to bits.

That didn't mean she wasn't going to try and figure this out, however. Snow would be counting on her to rise above everyone else's expectations, and Red hated to let her down. She _knew_ that if this town had just one person that they trusted to protect them, then they'd all calm down. The problem with that plan, however, was that the most likely candidates had dropped through a hole to another realm.

Just one crisis at a time, Ruby.

And boy, did she have a crisis on her hands now.

A boy had run in, dragging his brother behind him. Trailing behind both of them had been a pretty if disheveled young girl who was muttering to herself while rolling a purple stone in her hand.

The boy had been hysterical, shouting about town lines and curses. His brother had just been confused, asking what had made his brother so upset and why they were suddenly calling him Paris. The girl had just plopped herself on the floor, still fingering her necklace with one hand and tracing the swirling lines of Sharpie marks with the other.

It was around that time she called Bae. Red wasn't stupid, and neither was Ruby (contrary to popular belief). She knew that she was way out of her depth when it came to magic, so she had called someone who may know why crossing the town line had reset the curse.

Bae and Henry trailed inside fifteen minutes later, apparently having decided to walk instead of poof into existence on top of her granny's counter top. Ruby wasn't sure if she should feel grateful for this or not.

"What happened?" the wizard asked.

"Some kids ran in about a half hour ago. Apparently one of them crossed the town line and now all he remembers is his cursed life," she replied. Ruby really hoped that the boy would be able to figure out what happened, or better yet, reverse it.

Bae nodded and walked over to the two boys. It wasn't very hard to figure out who they were seeing as the kids were the only other people in the diner. While the inn was open, Granny and Ruby decided to keep the restaurant closed until they could figure out exactly what to do.

Ruby looked to Henry while Bae spoke to the two boys. "How was your night?" She was slightly afraid of the answer. She still wasn't sure if she had made the right decision in sending Henry off with Bae, but she hadn't known what else to do. They hadn't had anywhere else to put the boy.

Henry just shrugged at her, making Ruby even more nervous. "What happened?" she questioned, alarmed at the sight of his bandaged arm.

"My mom sent me to a Netherworld full of fire. But don't worry, Bae says he can set something up to keep me safe from it tonight."

"Wha—" Ruby started, only to pause when Bae walked over. "So, do you know what caused this?"

"I think we just discovered the price of Storybrooke's magic," he replied with a grim look. "Magic protects itself, and in this case, it's protecting the knowledge of its existence. Since it's limited to the city limits, it's limited everything about it to the city limits. That includes knowledge of Our Land."

"Can you reverse it?" the werewolf turned waitress asked.

"Maybe," he responded uncertainly. "I might be able to figure out a cure, but it would take time. I've never seen anything like this before."

Red sighed. It would have been too easy if Bailey had been able to fix it. "So what's this about a Netherworld?"

"Side effect of the Sleeping Curse apparently," Henry jumped in. "When I sleep it sends me to a—"

"Burning room?" Red asked.

"Yeah," Bae responded, staring at the girl intently. "How'd you know?"

"Because the same thing used to happen to Snow. We all thought it was just a dream." Red remembered the horrible screams that Snow would make after one of those nightmares. It would take David hours to convince her she was okay. Then, he would light a candle and wait with her until she fell asleep. "Henry says you can keep him safe from it."

"It think I can make something that will work. I just have to get ahold of some of the ingredients."

"Well, can you do that now? There's a town hall meeting at 1:00 and I need to find you guys a place to stay after that." Ruby wasn't looking forward to that. None of the guests had shown any indication of leaving the inn, Archie had no where to put them, and all the dwarves drank and swore profusely (Emma would kill her if she left Henry with a dwarf, if Regina didn't get to it first). She wasn't even going to pretend to consider Regina after she gaslighted the poor kid.

"No! Can't I stay with Bae?" Henry protested.

Ruby raised her eyebrows at his fervor. They had only known each other for a night, how could Henry already be so attached? "You need to stay with an adult, and so does Bae."

"I'm sorry, _what?"_ Bae cut in. "That's not happening."

Henry jumped in before Ruby could say anything. "Bae _is_ an adult! He's hundreds of years old! He's probably the oldest person in this town! You can't get more adult than that!"

"I think we should listen to Henry," Bae said. "Mainly because there is literally nothing in this or any realm that can make me play happy family with someone I don't know. Besides, I've taken care of myself for centuries, it's way too late to try and put an adult in charge of me."

Red sighed again and pinched the bridge of her nose. The diner phone was ringing again, which meant that there was a new crisis to deal with. "Look, we'll discuss this after the town hall meeting. You both are coming, right?"

"'Course," Henry chirped before Bailey could say anything.

"Then go work on your Netherworld thing, and we'll talk later."

The boys dutifully filed out the door, and Red made her way to the ringing phone. Today was just going to go downhill from here, she knew it.

* * *

"Seriously, what's the point of all this stuff?" Henry asked for the tenth time. When Bae had said they were going out to get ingredients for his magic, Henry had expected something mystic and cool.

Instead, they had gotten dirt.

Well, it wasn't just dirt. They had also gotten seaweed, driftwood, dandelions, grass, and other completely non-magicystuff. Frankly, it was disappointing. Magic was _real,_ he was living with a real-life sorcerer (Henry didn't care what Ruby thought. He was going to stay with Bae, he was sure of it) while they got his family back from another realm, and all the magical items he had seen were rocks and dirt. Well, and that strange glittery dust Bae was keeping in a necklace, but that didn't count. The boy obviously didn't trust Henry enough to even say what it was, but that was okay. Henry would prove that he could trust him, and then Bae would tell him. Whatever that stuff was, it obviously was important, or else Bae wouldn't be wearing it. It made sense that the boy had to be careful about who he trusted with it.

"You'll see," Bae promised with a laugh as he swung open the door to the town town hall was completely packed with concerned citizens. Granny had apparently decided to keep the peace again, because she was walking around with her crossbow. Huh. She was actually surprisingly good at ending any chaos that may be happening. Maybe they should make Granny the sheriff until his mom got back.

Ruby was trying to calm down the townspeople, with little success. Her attempts would have been effective if it wasn't for everyone's reactions to her. Whenever she tried to speak to someone they snapped at her and jerked away. Henry wondered why. She had always been one of the nicest people in Storybrooke.

The Dwarves waved him and Bae over. Apparently after last night, Bae was officially a part of their pack or something. Either way, there was a good chance he was getting a pickaxe.

A loud crash drew everyone's attention, and the entire town immediately became tense. This place was like a powder keg about to blow. Surprisingly enough, the source of the outburst was Mother Superior, who was currently looking at Henry like he was the Ghost of Christmas Past.

Bae shifted uncomfortably next to Henry. Maybe Mother Superior wasn't actually looking at Henry. He glanced up at Bae just in time to see the boy give a stiff nod to the nun. "Hello again, Reul Ghorm."

It was somewhat impressive that Bailey was capable of stunning a centuries old being. "How are you not dead?" she asked in shock.

Bae stared at her. "Should I be?" he deadpanned.

"I'm sorry, how do you two know each other?" Leroy looked like he was trying to figure some kind of new and unusual puzzle that didn't have all its pieces. While drunk.

"Reul Ghorm has had many petitioners over the years," Bae tersely replied. "It is not so unusual that I was one." His tone implied that the conversation was over. Unfortunately, he was speaking with a dwarf, and dwarves generally didn't care about the possible dangers associated with pushing someone. (Henry was fairly sure the term "poking the bear" originated when a dwarf actually tried it.)

"It's unusual that she greets you with surprise at the fact you're still breathing. Explain."

The Blue Fairy finally seemed to realize that she had caused a scene in front of the entire town. "I apologize," she said stiffly. "I'm just surprised to see you in Storybrooke. You haven't aged a day." That last bit was in a slightly accusatory tone, and Henry wondered what exactly their history was.

"I could say the same thing about you," the boy replied.

"I'm a fairy," came the flat response. "We don't age."

"You two can discuss how difficult you both find aging to be later," Ruby cut in. "Now, we need to start the meeting."

"Alright, everyone," hollered Leroy, "nothing to here! Just a fairy and a senior citizen stuck in a teenager's body having a chat!"

"Thanks," Bae drily said. Henry winced. Storybrooke was a bustling cistern of gossipers. The entire town would hear of this incident by dinner.

"Anytime," replied the smug dwarf with a pat to the wizard's back.

"Okay, everyone, can I get your attention please? Everyone, please!" Ruby called from the front of the room. Henry felt sorry for her. Most of the room ignored her, and the few that paid attention shot her dirty looks.

"Everybody shut up!" Leroy shouted. The room fell silent. "Thank you." He nodded to Ruby. "All yours sister."

"I officially call this town hall meeting to ord—" she began. Unfortunately, she never got to finish. Because before she could, the doors slammed open with a loud crack. Henry's heart sank, and he edged closer to Bae.

His mother was standing between the double doors, her lips twisted into a smug smile.

* * *

Baelfire did not have high hopes for this meeting.

The town was an absolute mess. The closest thing to a lawman was the terrifying (not that he'd ever admit it) old woman with the crossbow, or the Dwarves, and despite their contributions the night before, he had learnt their expertise was more in war-winning than peacekeeping. That girl from the diner, Ruby, was making a valid effort, but for some reason the entire town distrusted her. Frankly, all Bae expected was watching a few hours of mindless bickering before sneaking his charge out the back.

Instead, Henry's mother decided to crash the meeting.

The doors were thrown open with magic, seemingly for the sole purpose of dramatic effect. "My, what a nice turn out," she began as she strutted forward. "No need for a fuss. It's just little old me." Apparently she felt the need to show off her newly reclaimed magical abilities. She sent a ball of flames roaring through the room, causing the citizens to jump out of the way with a scream. The flame crashed into the town crest, setting it alight.

Bae glanced down at Henry, then froze. Henry had edged closer to Bae, but that wasn't what startled him. It was the look on the boy's face.

 _Because dear gods he knew that look._

(No, papa no. _Please_ papa, don't. _Papa! Papa!_ )

He had worn the same look every single time his father hurt someone. Every time he failed to stop his father from hurting someone. It was knowing something terrible was going to happen to someone else because of _you._ It was knowing that no matter how _desperately_ you tried, you would never ever be able to save them.

Because the person you were trying to stop didn't care enough to listen.

That part was always the worst. Knowing that while they may care about you enough to never physically hurt you, it didn't stop them from using you as an excuse to hurt _other_ people. Growing up, the guilt of what his father had done ate him alive from the inside out. _He should have been able to stop him._

The sound of Dr. Hopper's voice broke Bae from the memories of a dirt road and a ball and a donkey and dark smoke and death. The Dark One's son snapped up his gaze to look at the Evil Queen. "Regina, think about what you're doing!" Hopper said, starting forward. Bae winced, judging by the look on her face, she didn't like that.

Unfortunately, Baelfire was once again proven right. "Bug," the witch snarled, thrusting out her hand with a wave of magic. Baelfire could sense the darkness churning through the air, calling for pain and harm and _payment._

It would never reach the brave soul that decided to defy the Evil Queen.

Because the moment before it slammed into him, Baelfire cleanly stepped in front of the man and threw up a glowing shield. While he hadn't been able to stop his father, he could stop Regina. He _couldn't_ let Henry feel the same guilt he had. He _wouldn't._

Bae heard the Blue Fairy gasp at this blatant display of magic, and he internally winced. Right, when he had last seen her he was attempting to travel to a realm with no magic. She had probably found out he had succeeded, which made it seem impossible that he had ever had the opportunity to actually learn magic. He would probably have to sit down with her and answer some questions, before she blurted out his heritage in front of the entire town. In the meantime, he just wished she would stop the the obvious displays of shock. Honestly, the majority of the population was here, and she was making a scene.

"Calm down, Regina. There's no need for dramatics."

The entire bloody town gaped at him. Honestly, had no magic user even tried to stand up to Regina? Why on earth was he so surprising?

"You," she snarled, stalking forward. "You think some tricks with arrows and flames gives you the power to stand against me? Let me show you what power really looks like." In her hand she conjured yet another ball of fire, this one much larger than the last.

" _Mom, no!"_ Henry screamed. Out of the corner of Bae's eye, he could see the boy try to run in front of him, only to be grabbed by a dwarf. The witch ignored him, and sent the flames rushing towards the wizard. Baelfire raised his hand and the flames extinguished. Honestly, she had made a good try of it, but Baelfire had been practicing magic before her great grandparents had even existed. She didn't stand a chance. Bae pushed his hand towards Regina. She flew backwards and slammed into the partition Bae had set alight the night before. Before she could move, vines shot out to pin her arms in place. Regina looked up at him in absolute shock.

"Get your ego in check, _Your Majesty_. Just because you never fought anyone powerful enough to beat you in the Enchanted Forest, doesn't mean they didn't _exist._ "

Regina desperately shoved her magic against the bonds, but to no avail. The vines would glow as a show of her efforts, but no more. She couldn't break the bonds.

"She — she can't get out," one of the townsfolk nervously laughed. "He beat her."

Apparently the town took this as a cue to celebrate. They broke out in cheers, much to Bae's dismay.

Honestly, when he had broken out from the asylum he had wanted to keep a low profile.

Bae was pretty sure becoming a small town hero was a sign he had pathetically failed.

Baelfire risked a glance at Henry, and his heart sank at what he saw. The boy was nervously glancing between Bae and his mother and the town. No matter what he had said the night before, Henry still cared about his mother. He didn't want to see her hurt. Baelfire sighed. This kid already had him wrapped around his little finger.

The boy snapped his fingers and the doors reopened. "Everyone out! The meeting has been postponed. Come back in a couple hours."

It seemed the town wasn't keen on angering the only magic user powerful enough to stop Regina. The majority of them filed out of the room, leaving Dr. Hopper, Ruby and her grandmother, the Dwarves, Reul Ghorm, and Henry as the holdouts.

Baelfire glared at them.

"Not gonna happen, brother," Leroy stated. "You're a dwarf now, we don't leave a man behind." The others seemed to be in agreement. Not a single one of them was budging. Bae's gaze frustratedly ran across the group, until it landed on Henry.

"I'm not leaving either," Henry said, daring him to argue. "She's my mom, I should be here."

Baelfire nodded. He knew a lost cause when he saw one. Short of magically poofing them away, which he doubted they would appreciate, none of them were leaving.

Bae turned back around and stared at the Evil Queen. She was stubbornly meeting his gaze. She knew she had been beaten but refused to show any sign of weakness.

Bae sighed and flicked his wrist. The vines retracted. The boy was well aware that the entire room was staring at him; he wasn't going to focus on that. Baelfire knew he could subdue her again if need be, and she'd be more willing to answer questions if she wasn't chained to a wall. "You're letting me go," she said in disbelief . "Just like that."

"No," the boy responded in a flat tone. "We're asking you some questions. If I leave you tied to the gate while we do that you'll just glare at us like a stubborn child. This way we have a chance of getting answers."

"Can we start with how she got her magic back?" Chimed in Granny. "Personally, I'd be interested in finding that out."

"How do you think?" Regina answered. "I made a deal."

Baelfire stiffened at the reference to his father. He knew had had still been dealing in the Enchanted Forest, but this was the first result of one of them he had seen firsthand.

And that result had been a town hall attacked, citizens terrorized, and the Evil Queen becoming just as dangerous as she had been before the curse.

Bae refused to let himself be disappointed. He had seen his father kill mercilessly and laugh afterwards. This was minor in comparison, and Baelfire had been well aware that Rumpelstiltskin would have only gotten worse over the years.

It still hurt though. Didn't his father ever think about how his actions affected everybody else? No, all he ever cared about was himself and his damn deals.

And Bae. Once upon a time he had cared about Bae.

"If the curse is broken, why didn't we go back?" Grumpy asked, unknowingly breaking Baelfire from his riviere.

Regina glanced at Baelfire. Apparently realizing that feeding them the whole "that land is gone" spiel wouldn't work, she replied truthfully. "I don't know."

"Yeah, right," Leroy sneered back. "I don't buy that for a second. You cast this curse, you would know what would happen when it broke."

"I don't care if you don't believe it, _dwarf_ , it's true! I only focused on enacting it; I never bothered with what would happen if it was broken! I was never planning on it being broken at all!"

"She's telling the truth," Bae said. He believed her. There were some magic users that never cared about the finer details of spells, and he had a feeling she was one of them. But now he had his own questions he wanted answered. "Why did you come here today?" It wasn't a question, not really. Bae knew exactly why she was here; he just wanted to see if she would admit it. The Queen remained silent. She was unwilling to succumb to this line of questioning, but at this point she was wary of him. She wasn't about to shoot off her mouth.

Bae glanced over her face. She wouldn't say anything. "Shall I tell you then?" He didn't wait for her to answer. "You came for Henry."

"He's _my_ son! You can't keep him from me!"

Baelfire tried to rein in his temper before he said something he would regret. "You may have adopted him but you're not acting like his mother! Mothers actually give a damn about their children!" Not that he would know much on that regard. His mother abandoned him for a man she had known for less than twenty-four hours. "He told you to stop! Why the hell would you hurt him by not listening?!"

"You know _nothing_ of my son!"

"I know better than you; I've been him!" Baelfire could hear the entire room go silent behind him. He wanted to smack himself. Blurting out something like this in a fit of anger was exactly what he wanted to avoid. Bae could practically _feel_ Reul Ghorm staring at him. Well, it was too late to turn back now. "I've been him," he repeated. "I've been that kid that begs his parent to stop. I been the kid that tried so _desperately_ to stop their parents from hurting someone, only to fail _every bloody time._ Do you honestly think it doesn't hurt him?" He didn't wait for a response. "It does. More than you will _ever_ understand. If this keeps going on it will _destroy_ Henry. And I can't let that happen. I _won't_ let that happen"

"Henry…" Regina trailed off looking towards the boy in question. "You don't think really think I'd ever hurt you, do you?"

Henry look at Regina with a sad determination. "You already have. You — you hurt me when you got rid of my family. You hurt me when you tried to hurt everyone else. I — I think you should go."

"Henry," she whispered, taking a few steps towards them. Baelfire moved in front of Henry and met Regina's gaze with a challenge. Don't come and closer, or there will be consequences. She stopped. "Henry, I love you. Never forget that." She raised her hands and disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke.

"Should we go after her?" whispered Sleepy, breaking the silence.

"Where would we even put her?" asked Ruby. She glanced at Baelfire. "Would you be able to get her to stay in a cell?"

Bae frowned. "Probably, but it'd take more time and effort than it's worth. Trying to trap a magic user is about as easy as hugging a rabid wolf. And about as safe. If we tried she'd end up enraged against the town, especially if we succeed. Besides, even then the likelihood of escape is high." He should know. He's escaped enough cages in his life. "If there's a problem I'll deal with it and we'll revisit the idea. For now, it'd be safer for everyone just to leave her as she is."

This conversation had become too much for Henry. He bolted out the double doors.

"Henry," Baelfire called after him. The boy didn't stop. Cursing himself, Bae took off after him. He shouldn't have dumped so much on the kid at once. Soon, he was out the doors and following Henry out into the street.

He probably should have put out the fire before he left, though.

Bae trailed behind Henry in the streets. He could easily outpace the boy, but he let him run ahead. Henry would need this to burn off enough steam to talk. That is, if he even wanted to talk.

Henry darted into a play castle structure, and Bae paused before clambering in after him. He found the boy sitting in a large plastic tube, gasping for air. "Hey Henry. You okay?" Stupid question. Stupid Bae. No answer. "Did you run because of what I said?" Slowly, Henry shook his head, and Bae refrained from heaving a sigh of relief. "You willing to talk to me?" Henry scooted over to make enough room in the tube for Bae. Baelfire's heart shot into his throat, but he went in anyways.

Really, he shouldn't be so scared of small spaces. He had faced worse before, and it wasn't like a plastic tube in a playground was going to hurt him. That didn't stop his pulse from racing though. He just couldn't shake the illusion that he wasn't in a park, he wasn't in a play castle.

Instead he was in a jungle, trapped in a small wicker cage swinging from the trees.

Bae dug his fingernails into the palm of his hands. Focus. He could do this.

"I'm sorry," whispered Henry.

Baelfire's gaze snapped to the boy. His eyebrows furrowed. "For what?"

"I shouldn't have ran. I just couldn't take it anymore."

Bae shifted in the _(toosmalltoosmalltoosmall)_ space. He was _bad_ with people. Basic manners? Yes, he could be polite when he wanted to be. Manipulation? Unfortunately, yes, he had learned to manipulate people on Neverland. He can do it well, but he only uses that particular skill in dire situations. But actually _talking_ to people? Trying to comfort and relate to them for an entire conversation? That ship had sailed, been set on fire, crashed on the rocks of Neverland, and sunken beneath the waves. Living on an island with little to no positive interaction had killed Bae's social skills. He had _no idea_ what to do in this particular situation. "Everyone runs sometime. You shouldn't have had to deal with so much at once."

"Why did she do it? I told her to leave me alone!" Henry sounded angry, and _so frustrated._

Bae took a deep breath. "Sometimes — sometimes when people love someone they're selfish about it. They're scared of losing their love, and end up taking drastic measures to keep it. And when that happens, well, people get hurt. And they don't care about them, just the person they love." Bae stared at the neon orange wall of the stupid plastic play tube. _Kiss my boot._ He remembered the scared soldiers, the blood, and his father's terrible, _terrible_ smile. He remembered how frightened he was, how frightened the rest of the village was. _Everybody's watching from behind their curtains today, boy._ Something horrifying had taken over the gentle spinner. Something _dark._ "They'll destroy anything in their path if it means they get what they want." Regina had wanted Henry. Rumplestiltskin had wanted Baelfire.

And everyone had ended up alone.

"What did you mean back there? About having been me." Baelfire could feel Henry staring at him. He didn't look away from the wall.

"I shouldn't have said that. Forget it happened."

Henry shot him a look that said that wouldn't cut it.

Baelfire grimaced. "Alright, fine," he yielded. Yep, definitely wrapped around this kid's finger. "My family, well they weren't the best people in the realm. Or any realm. You know what, if they are morally ambiguous, then I'm probably related to them. My dad and grandfather were the worst though. My grandfather and I never got along. Spent most of our time fighting." That is, if actively trying to kill one another can merely be referred to as "fighting." Of course, Baelfire had always tried not to think about Pan as his grandfather. It has always seemed too weird. "My dad, though, he cared about me. A lot. Or at least I thought he did. Then," he took a deep breath before he continued, "he started using dark magic; he changed. He hurt people all the time, no matter how much I begged him to stop. Worse, he would kill people _because of me_. It would destroy me every time someone got hurt because of me, and when I saw your face today, well it reminded me of that. And I didn't want what that to ever happen to you, so guess I lost my temper."

"Is that why you stayed last night? Because I reminded you of you?" Henry had an unrecognizable emotion in his voice, and it worried Bae.

"No. I didn't see the similarities until the town hall incident. Honestly, I don't know why I stayed. I just didn't want to leave." Baelfire _wished_ he knew why he was still sticking around. Caring about people was _dangerous_ , for them and for himself.

Henry sucked in a large breath. "Okay. What now? Do we go back to the town hall?" he said with reluctance.

Bae snorted. Frankly, the feelings about that meeting were mutual. "Based on what I've seen about this town, I figure we can watch adults act like squabbling toddlers anytime. How do you feel about heading back to the apartment and finding out how grass and dirt can be magical instead?"

Henry smiled.

* * *

Henry was surprised to find he was actually really good at making dreamcatchers.

Bae had taught him, along with explaining how exactly it was going to protect him from the burning room. "Dreamcatchers capture things," he had said, "and that's what we're going to do. We're going to capture the flames so they can't hurt you." He had gone on the explain how exactly it worked. Apparently most of the time dreamcatchers main function was for the capturing and viewing of memories, but that's not all it does. The function of the dreamcatcher was determined by the materials they used. "This Netherworld is made of fire," Bae had explained. "We're going to use the three other elements to balance it." Which is why they had spent the day digging up completely disappointing non-magicky items instead of finding something more glittery and cliche. Henry was still kind of disappointed about that, though.

"What are you doing?" Henry asked.

Bailey glanced up from the plants he was grinding together. "I'm returning something I borrowed earlier." He added the plants to a mixture that briefly glowed at the addition. Then, he poured the entire solution into a small wooden bottle that he had pulled from his bag. Then, he pulled off his leather jacket and shook it. It morphed into a bigger, ratty jacket that reeked of mothballs. The magic user wrote a small note on slip of paper and attached it to the bottle. He slipped the potion into the pocket and waved his hand over it. The jacket disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Why—" There was a knock at the door, cutting off the rest of Henry's question. He watched as Bailey swiftly rised and walked to the door. He briefly touched the sword at his side before opening it.

"Hello Ruby."

* * *

Ruby nervously clutched the bag at her side. She really, really wanted to be anywhere but here.

To put it simply, the town meeting was a fiasco. After Henry and Bailey ran off, they had had to track down someone to put out the town crest seeing as Regina had ignited it. Once the townspeople returned, they had been quite dismayed to find that the only magic user to successfully stop the Evil Queen was not actually there. It had taken half an hour to actually get the citizens to actually focus enough to start the meeting.

Then, they had started to get scared. They were trapped in a town with no sheriff, no mayor, and no Charmings. Worse, they were trapped in the town with the Evil Queen, who had managed to get her magic back. They had made it clear: they wanted protection

or they would leave, town line be damned.

Only their solution was madness. Anyone who had kept their wits about them had been able to see that. Unfortunately, that did not include the vast majority of the town. And worse, Ruby had to make it work. She had to keep this town together, for Snow.

The door jerked open, and Ruby forced herself not to jump. "Hello Ruby," said Bailey.

She forced a smile. "I brought you and Henry dinner," she said, raising her bag.

Bae raised any eyebrow and trailed his eyes over her worried face, tense posture and fake smile. He had already figured out something was up. He opened the door further. "Come on in."

Ruby tensely entered the apartment and placed the food on the counter top.

"Hey Ruby," Henry happily chirped.

"Hello Henry," she responded, then glanced about him. He was surrounded by wood shavings, twine, grass, dirt, and other items that had no business in an apartment. "What's all this?"

"It's how we're gonna stop the burning room. Don't worry, we'll clean up." Snow's grandson got up and walked over to the bag. He began to pull out the to-go boxes, and glanced through them, surprised. "Wow. Burgers and fries _and_ onion rings? Plus chocolate cake and ice cream? Are the Dwarves coming over too?" Ruby winced. She knew she had gone overboard on the food, but it had given her something else to focus on other than how exactly she was going to pull this off. "No, it's just been a long day. I figured you'd both be hungry. You can save the leftovers for tomorrow." Bailey was staring at her as if she had just told him the sky was purple.

"What's the bribes for?"

"Bribes?" she parroted, hoping her voice was even. Take on an armed division of George's soldiers? Sure. Face down a court of people that could barely stand her? Piece of cake. Walk up to her best friend's grandson and his newly-acquired magical best friend and convince them to go along with a decision she herself thought was stupidity at its finest? Nope. Find someone else, because she can't do it. Yet here she was, trying to convince them through the fail safe of junk food.

The wizard rolled his eyes. "You showed up here more nervous than you were at the town hall meeting, armed to the gills with burgers and cake. You're trying to get us to agree to something that you think we'll hate. What is it?"

Ruby swallowed. "Bailey…" She stopped. This was moronic! It was a terrible decision, she should be trying to talk the townspeople out of it, not Bae into it!

The boy's eyes narrowed. "Is this about you wanting to put Henry elsewhere? Are you so nervous because you think I'll hate who you've found?" His face hardened. "Or worse, you haven't found anyone so you're trying to put him back with Regina. I don't care if I'm not technically an adult and she's the only one in town, there's no way I'm making him go back with _her—"_

"What? No! It's not about that!" She quickly cut in.

"Then what is it about?" His tone brokered frustration, and she knew no further hesitation would be tolerated.

Ruby sighed and tugged a small item out of her coat and placed it on the counter. When she had pocketed it it had felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. "Here." The sheriff's badge sparkled innocently up from the table.

Bailey looked at it. "Okay, I don't get it. Has it been horribly cursed or something and you need me to fix it?"

"No," she paused. "After you left the town voted you sheriff in absentia."

Bae snorted. "Yeah, right. What's really going on?" He paused and looked at her face. "You're not joking," he said, his tone laced with disbelief. "You're insane!"

"Let me explain," Ruby hurried to say. "Everyone who wasn't panicking thought it was crazy, but that was only a small part of the town. The rest are scared. Really, really scared. They want someone to protect them or else they are all leaving."

"Then find someone else to protect them!"

"There is no one else!"

Bae snorted. "Don't give me that. What about the Dwarves?"

"They're already doing triple duty with their regular jobs and restarting the mines and trying to fix the damage from the wraith. Besides they'd never be able to handle a fight with Regina!"

"Your Granny? She already seems to like patrolling the town with her crossbow, now she could do it as sheriff."

"She's over seventy years old and she has a heart problem! We can't make her sheriff!"

"What about you?"

Ruby paused. The sad thing is, she probably _could_ have been sheriff. She even had experience. "I can't." She paused. Bailey didn't know about her condition, not yet. That made him one of the few people in Storybrooke. "I'm a werewolf. The people would never allow it."

He didn't look afraid. He didn't look disgusted. He _did_ look dismayed, but that was probably due to his dwindling supply of possible sheriffs. "What about anyone _but_ me?"

"This isn't exactly the most popular position at the moment. The only person that volunteered was the former Sheriff of Nottingham, and he's pretty much synonymous with abuse of power." Bae paused again, looking conflicted. Ruby decided to press her advantage. "When the people came back into the town hall meeting today, they had just found out that Regina had her magic again and the town line reset the curse. They're frightened. There's no sheriff, no mayor, _nothing._ They're stuck in a town where the only functioning magic users are the Evil Queen and Rumplestiltskin. And you. You're powerful enough to stop Regina. You're old enough to turn the Blue Fairy's head. The people saw you running around with the Dwarves last night, helping ease the chaos. It's enough to make them ignore your physical age."

"And if I just say no?" he dared her.

"Then they're leaving. All of them. They're going to cross the town line, _forget who they are,_ if you don't say yes. They don't want to be cursed again, but they're more afraid of Regina than losing their memories."

"I'm not sure if me being sheriff is a much better alternative!" Ruby moved to interrupt, but Bae stopped her. "No, it's true! I've lived a really, _really_ long time Ruby. And in that time I've been a thief, and an orphan, and a dissenter, and a thousand other things and _none_ of them are conducive to something like this! I'm good at standing up to bullies, not being a law enforcement officer!"

"It's basically the same thing!" Bailey glared at her. "Look, it's not for long. It's only until Emma gets back, shorter if the townspeople come to their senses before then. Will you at least think about it?" _Please help me keep this town from falling apart._

"I'll _think_ about it. I'm not saying that I'll do it just yet."

"Thank you," she sighed in relief.

* * *

"So. Sheriff." Henry had kept silent throughout the entire argument, but now that Ruby had left, he was eager to talk to Bae.

"Ugh," Bae agreed, leaning against the door. He hadn't moved from his position since Ruby had left ten minutes ago.

"If it makes you feel any better, I think you'd be a great sheriff. And that's not just because you saved my soul." Henry was telling the truth. Bae would be a good sheriff. He wasn't the type to be easily intimidated, like Emma. And, from the short time they had known each other, Henry could already tell Bae _hated_ injustice.

Bailey gave him a dry look. "I wish I shared your confidence."

There was a knock on the door. Again. Bae groaned. Again. The sorcerer spun around and yanked the door open.

"I want to see my son!"

Henry froze at the voice. His mom was here. She was _here_ , at Emma's apartment.

"I don't think that's your decision," Bae coolly replied. Henry couldn't see his mother's expression from where he was standing, but he could already imagine the displeased look on her face. She wouldn't have liked that. "Put it away, Regina. Your magic isn't going to help you." Yep, he was right. Henry felt disappointed at his mother. She was still trying to hurt people to get what she wants.

"I want to talk to Henry! _Please_ , just let me see my son."

Bae said nothing. Then he glanced over at Henry. "If you don't want to talk to her, say the word. I'll have her halfway across town in a second."

"No, it's okay." Henry was slightly surprised at how steady his voice was. "I'll talk to her." He _did_ want to see his mother. Despite everything, he missed her. And he wasn't just ready to give up on her. She could change, he knew it.

Bae nodded and opened the door. Regina walked in and zeroed in on Henry. "Don't try anything Regina. You won't get far."

Regina glared at Bailey. Henry glanced at Bae, then subtly jerked his head to the side. He got the message. He sent back an _are you sure_ look. Henry nodded. "I'll just go put up these dreamcatchers. Henry, shout if you need me." By the look the wizard was sending Regina, he meant 'if Regina tries anything, call me and I'll shoot her.' He quickly gathered up the products of their labor and walked out of the room. Henry was alone with his mom. They looked at one another for a long time before his mother spoke.

"Why do you need dreamcatchers?" she asked weakly.

Henry blinked. "Oh, uh, the Sleeping Curse sent me to a Netherworld that's on fire. We made the dreamcatchers to stop the flames."

"What?" came the shocked reply.

"You didn't know?" His mom had cast the curse, shouldn't she know about this? But she had said she hadn't cared what happened after the Dark Curse broke, maybe it was the same with this curse. "After the Sleeping Curse breaks, it sends you to a burning room every time you sleep. The same thing happened to grandma."

"I—I didn't know," his mom stuttered. Henry raised an eyebrow. His mom _never_ stuttered.

"Why are you here?" Henry didn't want to tiptoe around this. He wanted to know what exactly his mom was doing.

"Henry, I want you to come home. It's not safe here."

"I'm safer here with Bae than with you! What you did today proves that!"

"Henry, I came to rescue you today because I love you," she tried to sooth, walking forward. She placed her hands on Henry's shoulders, but Henry shook her off.

"So you're terrorizing the town because you love me. That's not okay! And it's not love!" Henry's blood burned. If she _really_ loved him, she wouldn't keep doing this! "You've ruined lives. You sent away my grandparents and Emma! You made it so that everyone thought I was crazy! You— you made me feel crazy," Henry finished softly. And that, really, was what hurt the most. No matter how angry and disappointed it made him, he understood why she stranded his family. She _hated_ Emma, and she hated David and Mary Margaret even more. His mom saw a chance to get rid of them and took it.

But she didn't hate him.

She said she loved him. But that didn't stop her from hurting him at every turn. She made him sound insane, even though she _knew_ he was right. She used him in her war with Emma before the curse broke. And now she was using him as an excuse to hurt people.

And that's not what people who love you do.

"But that's all going to change now," his mom tried to reassure him. "Henry, you can know all the secrets. You can live in a house _with_ magic."

"I can do that here," Henry shot back. "And Bae doesn't hurt people with his magic."

"Henry, you can't live with Bailey. He's a child, he can't take care of you. But you can have him over anytime you want. You can show him everything in your book. You can do that with all your friends."

"I don't _have_ any friends besides Bae, don't you remember? Nobody wanted to be friends with crazy Henry Mills! And even if I had friends, they wouldn't want to come over. They're scared of you."

"You can make them not be scared," Regina said, her voice suddenly hard. Then, she caught herself. "You can make them love you."

"I don't want that," Henry said back, frustrated. She wasn't even realizing the problem, she was just trying to slap a magical band aid on it and pretend everything was okay. "I don't want to be you."

"Henry…" his mother began. Henry didn't give her the chance to finish.

"I came to the Sheriff's Office yesterday to tell you I love you. I came to tell you that despite everything that had happened, I wouldn't give up on you." Regina stopped and stared at him with something akin to hope. "But then everything else happened and I realized something." Henry took in a shaky breathe. This was harder to say than he thought it would be (not that he thought it would have been easy). "I can't live like this," he said as he shook his head, fighting back tears. This was his _mom._ "I can't live torn between you and the rest of my family. I can't always be scared that you'll hurt someone because of me. _I can't."_

"What if I changed?" Regina desperately asked, seemingly not thinking before responding. "What if I was better, stopped hurting people?"

"Would you?" Henry shot back. "Would you actually try, or are you just saying that?"

"Yes, I would! I want to be better Henry, for you."

"If you're serious about changing," Henry sucked in a breath, "then I'm willing to try. But only if you actually make an attempt."

"I will," she smiled, and for a second Henry was reminded of when he was younger and had brought his mother a drawing of their family. It was just a scratchy crayon etching, but she had smiled at him like he was the best artist on the face of the planet. Then, Regina's face fell again. "You're not going to come with me tonight, are you?"

Henry shook his head. "I'm going to stay here with Bae. I'm happy here."

His mother nodded then hugged him. Then, she walked out the door without saying anything.

Henry sighed. Maybe, just maybe, she would try.

* * *

Baelfire checked the dreamcatchers for the tenth time that night. If his calculations were correct, then this should stop the flames from reaching Henry. Dreamcatchers operated on a higher, mental level. They would travel to the Netherworld with Henry when his soul left his body. Then, thanks to the materials they used (driftwood, seaweed and seashells for water, soil and grass for earth, dandelions, and feathers for air) the enchanted objects would be able to capture the flames, preventing them from reaching Henry. It would work.

Then why was he so nervous?

"It'll be fine, Bae." Baelfire glanced down to look at Henry. He was already in bed, and was putting on a look of false bravado for Bae's benefit.

He of course saw right through it, but Bae appreciated the effort.

Bae was worried about Henry. After his mother left, he had seemed thoughtful, but there was something else. He had hope now. Apparently he was going to give his mother another chance.

Baelfire only hoped that it wouldn't blow up in Henry's face like it had in his.

Henry would never find out that Baelfire had raised wards to ensure Regina couldn't kidnap Henry the moment she had entered the room. Probably.

"So, are you going to take the sheriff job?"

And there was another point of conflict for Bae. He thought they were absolutely crazy for offering him the position, but what about the consequences if he refused? They would all leave. The town would be crippled.

Bae wanted to groan. He _hated_ it when people tried to back him into a corner. It never ended well for any of them.

"I'm not sure. I'm still thinking about it. I'm worried that they'll keep threatening to leave every time they need help."

"What if you changed things?" Henry asked. "I mean, they want you to be sheriff because you can protect the town with your magic. But all magic comes with a price, right? You can accept on conditions that you decide. They'll have to say yes. It's a win-win."

"Maybe," Bae chewed his lip. "It's a pretty smart plan."

"Well that makes sense, I'm pretty smart," Henry joked. "Bae… If you do take the job, will you make sure the rest of the town doesn't harass my mom? She's trying to change."

Bae raised an eyebrow. "If I accept the job, I'll protect your mom just like I'll protect the rest of the town. If any law-breaking happens, I'll take care of it, I promise. Now, the dreamcatchers should work, and you need sleep."

"Thanks, Bae… If I have nightmares again, can we practice fighting some more? I liked that."

"Of course. Now, go to sleep."

"Goodnight, Bae."

Baelfire smiled. "Goodnight, Henry." He walked out and flicked the light switch off. Henry had offered the other bed to Bae, claiming his family wouldn't mind, but he would stick to the couch. After sleeping on hard cave floors for centuries, he never really got used to beds again.

Baelfire flopped down on the couch with a sigh. He wouldn't be going to bed, not tonight. He wasn't quite ready to face his own nightmares, and he still needed to finish Henry's storybook. With all the chaos, he hadn't had time to work on getting the Charmings back.

He opened the book. Tomorrow, he would have to deal with Ruby and the town and this _sheriff_ problem. But for now, he would only deal with the problem before him.

And once again, Baelfire began to read. **Once upon a time there was a…**

* * *

Bromden was mopping. He was always mopping. After all, they all thought he was too stupid to do anything else. He winced as his pain shot through his nose again.

Scratch that, they also thought he could have stopped the boy from escaping after the curse broke. Only, both he and Ratched had been knocked out by the escapee not long into the fight.

Contrary to popular belief Bromden was not stupid. He could speak, he simply chose not to. Why would he need to speak, when he was so much better at Watching? When you were a Watcher instead of a Speaker, then you tended to blend into the background, no matter how big you may be. When you Watch, that's when you truly See.

Bromden had Seen much throughout the years at the asylum. He had Seen Nurse Ratched violate medical protocol countless times. He had Seen the mayor hide her indiscretions behind the metal doors of the cells. And he had Seen the dark haired, dark eyed boy as he truly was.

There had been moments, during the curse, that he would be so much more lucid. His eyes would be filled with a keen intelligence rather that panic-filled madness. They would also be filled with an intense pain, as if he had been to hell and back and had lost something terribly important on the journey.

And then the curse would return the insanity with greater force, and the intelligence and pain would sink beneath the depths once more, waiting to resurface.

When the boy had been escaping, Bromden had seen that same intelligence and pain glistening in his eyes once more. They were well hidden, but not enough to stop a Watcher from Noticing. And this time there was no curse to push them back.

Perhaps one day Bromden would tell someone all he had Seen, but that seemed unlikely to him. To do that was to become a Speaker, and once that happened you could never return to being a Watcher.

Bromden had been a Speaker once. He wouldn't go back, not yet, not after what had made him decide to become a Watcher. All that he had Seen would remain in the shadows.

He put away his mop and glanced at the front desk. Ratched wasn't there. She hadn't been all day, citing personal reasons. But that wasn't what had caught his attention.

When you were a Watcher, you tended to Notice things. You Noticed that one of the old, ragged coats had disappeared from the coat rack the same day that the strange boy with the burning intellect had disappeared. And you Noticed when it returned, innocently resting on the same peg it had been pilfered from. Bromden silently walked over to the coat. He Noticed the small lump in the pocket.

He reached inside the jacket, careful not to disturb it. It wouldn't do for a Watcher to cause anything to be Noticed. In his hand there was a small wooden vial, with a note attached. He opened the folded paper much more gently than one would expect from someone his size.

 **Dear guy I elbowed in the face,**

 **I'm sorry for elbowing you in the face. And ramming my head into your nose. And kneeing you in the gut. And slamming your head onto my knee. So, basically I'm sorry I beat you up. I know you were just trying to do your job when you were trying to stop me from escaping. For future reference, any attempt to try and prevent my escape from anywhere will have the exact same result. For your own sake, please don't try again. Please drink the potion in this bottle. I promise it's not poison. It will heal any lingering aftereffects of our fight.**

 **Thanks for the coat,**

 **The Former Resident of Cell 7C**

A ghost of a smile almost touch the corners of Bromden's lips. He had Noticed that boy was different. He was glad to see he had been right. He drank the potion, and felt the pain in his nose melt away.

Perhaps one day he would tell someone all he had Seen. Perhaps he would once again become a Speaker. But for now, he was content to Watch.

* * *

 **Finally done! Once again, I'm so sorry this took so long! I kinda got sucker punched by the real world. Now, notes and explanations for this chapter:**

 **Cassandra and her brothers are in fact based on the Cassandra and co. from Greek Mythology. (See: Trojan War) No, they're not actually royalty in my story, nor am I going to have a Trojan War. Cassandra is a Seer, and instead of having hands in inconvenient places the price for her "gift" is to be driven so crazy by it that no one ever believes her prophecies. This can only be overcome by actually figuring out she's a Seer. I thought she'd be an interesting character to add into the mix, so expect wild times ahead. If you want to imagine how she acts, think River Tam from Firefly (the TV series, not the movie. She's more sane in the movie).**

 **Yep, Bae figured out Pan is his grandfather. That will be explained later.**

 **When I was trying to figure out who I could make sheriff since David was AWOL in Fairytale Land, I realized that there wasn't really anyone that fit the bill. Then I realized a few more things:**

 **There's no way in heck Bae would sit by and do nothing when Regina rampaged through the town hall meeting. Not after what his Papa used to do.**

 **The townspeople would have latched on to whoever could stop Regina, even if he was physically a teenager. His little run-in with Blue showed he was actually a lot older, which let them feel better about shoving the job on him.**

 **No one would actually** _ **want**_ **the Sheriff's job. At this point, the town's going down in flames. Nobody wants to clean up this mess.**

 **So, somehow, Baelfire became Sheriff. And then, as I have come to expect from this story, it morphed into something so much more than what it was when I started. Suddenly, it had turned into something that led to so much character development and introspection that I couldn't scrap it. I** _ **promise**_ **it's not some kind of 'let's toss the underage kid into an important position 'cuz YOLO' thing, it's more of a 'this is kind of a risky and unrealistic idea, but it's so integral to the story I suddenly have to make it realistic' thing. Bae's not going to be given free reign over the town, I promise. There will be checks and balances and training and more. Don't give up on me just yet! At least this way, we actually see some of the democratic process instead of David basically declaring himself Sheriff. Also, yes, Bae's more powerful than Regina. He's spent hundreds of years fighting Pan on his own turf. Logically, Regina never stood a chance. Also, you guys should rewatch the scene where Regina nabbed Henry from the meeting again and compare it to the scene where Rumple kills that dude when Bae fell and skinned his knee. Baelfire and Henry look** _ **so alike**_ **when they're walking away with their parents it's insane.**

 **For those of you who don't remember Bromden, he was the guy Bae beat up in Chapter One while escaping. We also see him in the show pretty much surgically attached to that mop of his. Yep, Bae returned the coat with an apology, like he planned in Chapter One. He still has his morals, so he's not gonna keep the stolen jacket. Fun factoid: the writers of Once actually based Bromden and Nurse Ratched off of characters from the book** _One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest._ **That book is actually placed in an asylum. I tried to make him deeper than that weird silent hulk of a dude standing in the corner. Frankly, I** _ **like**_ **to look into characters behaviors and try to see what makes them tick, whether it's someone who has literally never talked in the course of the show or something like what we saw from Ruby earlier in this chapter. So expect a lot of it.**

 **Okay, it's one in the morning and I have school tomorrow. I'll stop talking now and post this later. Thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, so if you haven't watched episode 5x11 yet, don't read this author's note. So I just watched it today, and I discovered it may not be as unrealistic as I thought making Baelfire the Sheriff. After all, at the end of the episode we saw the Charming, Swan, Hood and Mill's parenting styles. Am I really the only one who sees the problem with taking Henry on a field trip** _ **to**_ _ **the Underworld? Seriously?**_ **Rumple had described it like, a half an hour ago as "torment," and, "you'll wish you're dead, but then you'll realize you already are." You can't get more ominous than that! At least in my story, the kid at risk is in actuality over five hundred years old, and can kick the majority of the town's butt! Henry can't even do anything to help! Yes, he took care of the Author problem, and is actually a really good character, but this is** _ **Hell**_ **we're talking about! He broke his magic pen and can't fight, because past sparing with wooden swords for like, three episodes in season two, they never actually** _ **taught**_ **him how to fight. But no, don't listen to me, apparently child endangerment has become socially acceptable in Storybrooke!**

 **Okay, that was nice. That made me feel better. This rant turned out really long, so there's going to be a few notes at the bottom for those who reviewed instead of up here. Onto the story!**

* * *

 **Of Broken Families and Shattered Souls**

 **Chapter Five:** In Which An Unusual Alliance Is Formed, And Ruby Gets Stuff Done

The plan had changed. And that worried Hook.

A changed plan meant that there were problems with the previous one. And problems meant that there were more difficulties standing between him and his revenge.

After all he had been through, all he had lost, he needed his revenge. It was all he had left.

The problem had been disguised by good fortune. Those royals the Evil Queen hated, Snow White and Prince James, had arrived with their rather appealing daughter, Emma. They had been sent to the Enchanted Forest by accident, but he and Cora were counting on them for the way back. Apparently they had left some descendant in the other realm, and their annoying habit of finding one another would come in handy for managing to find a way to the other realm. At first, all had seemed as if fate was on their side.

Until that do-goodie of a soldier and the newest pompous princess announced they would be traveling to the other realm as well. Cora, acting as the ever-gallant Lancelot, had inquired what this new realm would hold for them.

A magic user.

And not just any magic user, but one that had the ability to return souls to their bodies after they were stolen by wraiths.

Many of those who learnt magic refused to even go near wraiths, and for good reason. Handling wraiths took a level of skill that most sorcerers never achieved. To not only be able to fight a wraith but to have learnt how to return a lost soul meant that this mysterious Bailey had both the power and knowledge to be truly dangerous indeed. And that could pose a problem for Hook and Cora's plans.

From what the royals had said, this boy was a hero. He had valiantly risked his life for the poor little prince, and most likely wouldn't stand by and let them do as they pleased. He would fight to protect all the _innocents_ , and Cora and Hook wouldn't allow that.

So they had changed plans.

Originally, they had planned to have Cora offer her assistance while disguised as Lancelot. However, that wouldn't work now. Their new plan called for long-term exposure to the Charmings, which heightened the chance they would realize Lancelot wasn't truly Lancelot. It was too risky now. Instead, "Lancelot" would suggest "Roger" consulted on their quest, as he was the most recent refugee, and therefore knew the most of the state of the Enchanted Forest. While Hook played Good Samaritan, he would subtly pry for all the information he could about Regina, Rumpelstiltskin, Storybrooke, and most of all he would find out everything they knew about the unknown warlock. Hook would look for his strengths and weaknesses, find out the most likely ways to defeat him.

Then, once they reached Storybrooke, Cora and Hook would kill this Bailey.

* * *

When Henry opened his eyes, he was standing in the burning room again. Only this time, it wasn't burning.

The flames were still there, they just weren't in the room. Instead, they were confined behind a magical barrier that encompassed the entire room. Henry cautiously stepped towards the blockade. He could see the honeycombed pattern of the dreamcatchers web formed of earth and water, and swirling air darted between its gaps.

"Cool," Henry whispered.

"What is that?"

Henry spun around at the voice. Behind him was a woman. She was pretty, but she was dressed in a way that you would never see in Storybrooke. "Who are you?" he asked. When he had last been here, he had thought he had seen someone else between the flames, but he hadn't been sure. But here she was, the proof right in front of him.

"Aurora."

"Aurora. As in Princess Aurora?"

She nodded. "What is that?" she repeated, staring at the barrier.

"Oh, right. That's a magical barrier formed with dreamcatchers. My friend Bae made it to stop the flames. I'm Henry, by the way," he added as an afterthought.

"It's amazing," she murmured, stepping toward the walls. Henry felt something pull at him, as if he was drifting away.

"I think I'm waking up."

Henry's voice seemed to snap Aurora out of her daze. Then, comprehension dawned on her face. "Wait, did you say Bae? As in Bailey?"

"Yeah… How'd you know?" The world had become foggy at the edges, and Aurora sounded as if she was far, far away.

" _Wait… Henry…. Wait."_

And then Henry woke up.

* * *

"Do I have to go to school Bae? I want to stay and help you!"

Bae gave the contrite boy a rueful smile. "Sorry, kid. You've got obligations and so do I. You can help me after school."

Henry looked at him suspiciously. "Do you really mean that? Or are you just saying that so I'll stop asking?"

"Of course I mean it! This curse only broke because of you, I'll need your expertise."

Henry beamed at the words, then sighed when the bus rolled up. Suddenly, he gave Baelfire a quick, tight hug and ran up the steps.

"Bye Bae, see you after school!" Then, the bus rolled away, taking Henry with it.

Bae stood there in shock for at least three minutes. Henry had _hugged_ him. Baelfire fought back the ridiculous smile that tried to appear on his face.

Then, he stopped.

What was he even _doing?_ He _knew_ the dangers of caring about someone! The consequences were seared into his skin! After the horrible disaster that had occurred the last time he had loved someone, he had vowed to himself never to fall into the same trap again. He had _promised_ to stop loving people.

But he had also known he could never keep that promise. He had made it a thousand times, after all. And every time he made it, he failed at fulfilling it.

Love was his Achilles Heel, his greatest strength and weakness. There was _always_ someone that managed to crawl past his defenses and take root in his heart. His mother. His father. Wendy. John. Michael. Hook. _Him._

And now Henry.

Love had driven him to do many things in the past. It had led him to travel to the Land Without Magic for his father. It had made him take Michael's place in Neverland. He had done things others thought impossible in the name of love.

But Bae had also lost every single person he had ever loved. Love was the one sure fire way to bring him to his knees.

Pan had figured this out, and used it to make sure Baelfire paid the price for defiance.

Every time he lost someone, it destroyed him anew, shattered him into a thousand pieces. And every time it got harder to pick up the shards of his heart.

Only this time, Bae wasn't sure if he had the strength to do it again.

Baelfire pushed the thoughts out of his mind. Henry would be fine. He would make sure Henry would be fine. _Henry had to be fine._ For now, the wizard needed to focus on the task at hand.

Before leaving the night earlier, Ruby had relayed the news that the town had voted to immediately restart the schools, meaning Henry needed to return the next day. Bae, however, posed a problem.

He had spent his curse years in the asylum, not at school. While he could finally remember his cursed life (the magic-induced insanity had abated with the breaking of the curse, returning the memories of his fake life) and the background information that came with it, the things he remembered from the school part of those were patchy. Even then, the other children of Storybrooke had continued their schooling over the years while Baelfire had been getting drugged out of his mind by an unsympathetic nurse. They weren't able to simply toss him in a class and expect him to manage. Ruby, as usual, had come up with the solution. One of the teachers, a Miss (formerly Mrs) Kathryn Nolan had volunteered to tutor Bae after school hours. Apparently her Enchanted Forest husband had been one of the hostages from the Rabbit Hole the night before, and wanted to repay Bae for helping save her True Love's life. And if Baelfire took the job the town had offered him, the tutoring would take place after work.

Bae bit back a groan. He had promised to give his answer this morning. The town needed a sheriff, he couldn't put this off any longer. He turned on his heel and set off for Granny's.

Baelfire thought he had figured out a way to make this work; he just had to pull it off. The bell dinged as he opened the diner's door, and the entire bloody diner stared at his arrival. Henry was right. This town was completely inhabited by gossips. The same group that had refused to leave at the meeting the day before rose and walked over. Bae was beginning to get the impression they were the only ones that _did_ anything in this town.

And he had probably become a member of their ranks at this point. Dang it.

 _Way to keep a low profile, Baelfire,_ he thought. _Truly, nice work._

"We should talk in the back," Ruby stated before he could say anything. "Follow me."

They all trailed behind Ruby, Leroy taking his coffee mug with him. Every eye in the diner followed them. The door swung shut.

"Well?" Grumpy bluntly asked. "Are you gonna do it or what?" Frankly, Baelfire wasn't sure which response the dwarf was hoping for. Maybe he didn't care either way.

"I'll do it," Bae said. Ruby and Hopper sighed in relief. "But I have a couple conditions."

"Conditions?" Granny cut in. She seemed to be challenging him with her gaze. What she was challenging him to, Bae wasn't sure.

"Yes," Bae replied, meeting her gaze. "I want a deputy. I refuse to clean up this town all by myself. It has too many problems for one person."

"Okay," Ruby said. "A deputy. We can manage that, but it may take some time. Anything else?"

Bae hesitated. They were less likely to acquiesce on this request, but he refused to budge on it. "Henry gets to stay with me for as long as he wants." With all the trouble that happened yesterday, Ruby had never had the chance to go looking for a "suitable guardian" for them, but he knew she hadn't given up yet. Baelfire knew he didn't need one after taking care of himself for so many years; he wouldn't even know what to do with one if he had one.

"We can't just leave you two with no supervision," Ruby protested. " _But,"_ she continued, seeing him about to protest, "we can let you too stay with each other as long as there is someone checking in consistently to make sure that you're both okay. If we find out that either of your needs aren't being met, you're moving in with someone else."

Baelfire considered arguing, but decided against it. He could live with that, as long as their supervisor wasn't completely insufferable. "Who'd be checking in on us?"

Ruby glanced at Hopper. "Archie, would you do it? You know Henry the best out of all of us, and you'll be working with Bae on the sheriff's job."

"Of course," the psychiatrist/conscience-for-hire replied.

At the same time, Bae questioned, "Working with me?"

Ruby returned her attention to Bae. "We were waiting until we got your answer to tell you the practical aspects of the job. The town elected Dr Hopper to be a supervisor of sorts. He's going to help you take care of more of the administrative jobs of the sheriff position. He'll also be going over the actions you take while Emma's gone. Your job will more be the enforcement of laws."

Bae frowned. "So basically I'm some kind of glorified, magical meat shield for the rest of the town." The fact that Hopper was the administrator made sense though. The entire town seemed to look towards him as the epitome of moral behavior. They would trust that he would make the best decisions.

Leroy snorted into his cup. "Pretty much," he said. Ruby shot him a glare. "What?" He defended. "This is crazy. At least he's telling it like it is."

"Don't you have fairy dust to mine?" Granny cut in.

"Don't rush me, sister," Grumpy replied. Nevertheless, he handed Hopper his cup and placed his hat on his head. "Come on boys," he said to the rest of the dwarves. "It's off to work we go."

"Speaking of work," Baelfire cut in. "What am I actually _doing?"_

"Don't worry," Ruby replied. "I can train you. Emma gave me a crash course while I was her assistant before the curse broke. But first, we have a few things we need to take care of."

"Like what?"

"A physical, for one thing. It's a requirement for the Sheriff and Deputy positions. Emma had to do one when she got the job. You also need to have a session with Dr Hopper," Ruby shot him a look. "Apparently you broke out of the asylum."

"It's not like I could chose what my cursed life was," Bae defended. "Besides, I had to break out. There was no way that battleax of a nurse would have let me go."

"Curse or not, you still have to talk with Archie. He needs to verify you're not, you know, insane."

"Anything else?" Baelfire asked, wondering what exactly he just got himself into.

Ruby glanced over him. "Well, we should probably get you clothes that you didn't escape from an asylum in."

Baelfire gave a two fingered salute. "Lead the way, Miss Lucas."

Reul Ghorm stopped him before he could leave. She hadn't spoken through the entire conversation, just silently watched him. "I was wondering if we could speak sometime soon, _Bailey."_ Baelfire evenly met her gaze. She was one of the few people in this town who could recognize him. Quite possibly the only one, if you don't count his father.

"Of course," he said, a fake smile on his lips. "We'll catch up. For old times sake." This wasn't going to be a pleasant conversation, but if he played it correctly he would find out just what happened after he left the Enchanted Forest. The Blue Star knowing who he was could be a problem, but it could also be an opportunity for information.

Living in Storybrooke, working with these people, he could handle it. It was all just a Game.

On Neverland, Baelfire had hated playing Games. He had, however, been very skilled at them. He had been a threat, an opponent that was a challenge to Pan himself. But like everything, nobody played a Game without paying a price.

And as he turned to follow Ruby, Baelfire began to wonder about the price for this Game.

* * *

"Hello Mr Darling," the man in the white coat said as he entered the room. "My name is Dr Whale, I'll be conducting your check up today. And may I just say, I'm a fan of how you managed to magically sucker punch Regina earlier. I think we all wanted to see that happen."

"Uh, okay," Bae replied, trying not to show how on edge he was. He was back in the hospital. Correction, he was back in the place that held him captive for _twenty eight years._

 _Calm down,_ he thought to himself, _it's not like you're back in Neverland._

"Can we get on with it?" Ruby cut in, seemingly noticing Bae's discomfort. Bae had to wonder at that. He was fairly good at hiding his emotions. Perhaps she smelt his anxiety. "We have a a lot to do today."

"Ah, Miss Lucas. As ravishing as ever. For once, though, I hope you don't find me the same way," the doctor (and Baelfire was quite worried about the fact that his medical degree came from a _curse)_ looked at his unamused audience. "What, nothing? Right then," Dr Whale sat in a short rolling stool and wheeled his way over. "So it seems you're here for a physical. Before we start, I need you to answer some questions for the hospital records. Full name?"

"Let's just stick with Bailey Darling."

"Gender?"

"Seriously?"

"Age?"

"Can I have an easier question, please?"

"Age?"

Bae sighed. "Okay, lemme think. I'm probably around fourteen or fifteen physically. But, I've been alive for somewhere north of five hundred years. I think."

Whale gaped at him. "Okay… Um, place of residence?"

"Yeah, not answering that." Bae felt he was still entitled to his paranoia, all things considered. He wasn't about to hand out the address of the place he was staying, even several people already knew it. Luckily, Whale decided not to fight him on it.

"Allergies?"

"None that I know of."

They went on this vein for several more questions, until Whale closed his clipboard with a snap.

"Alrighty then. When I learnt you had been a, uh, _guest_ here, I sent down for your files. They should be here soon. Until then, hop up on the scale and we'll check your weight."

Bae compiled, and Whale glanced at the readings. Then, he looked again, this time in surprise. "Uh, okay. We don't have any percentile scores for people over five hundred, seeing as they don't actually happen in this realm, but for the fourteen to fifteen year old range you're pretty underweight. It's not to the point where we need to take any serious action, but I do want to keep an eye on it. If we don't see an improvement within the next couple weeks, we'll look at our options to improve it." Baelfire wasn't surprised at the problem. Neverland was not a kind place to live, and Bae had been in pretty bad shape by the time he escaped. In the Enchanted Forest, he had been too busy trying to deal with the mental ramifications of his stay to really deal with the physical. In Neverland, everything had been about escape. He never gave himself a chance to deal with trauma while there, and he paid the price when he left. The asylum didn't help matters. Nurse Ratched wasn't exactly known for her generosity in food or any other matter.

 _Speak of the devil and she shall appear,_ Baelfire thought as the door swung open. Ratched stood on the other side, her Look of DisdainTM firmly fixed on her face. _Well she is as radiant as ever._

"Here," she flatly said, holding a cardboard file organizer out to Whale. Then, she spun on her heel and haughtily walked out. Bae refrained from smirking.

"Well, let's have a look-see at your files," Whale said as he opened the box. He pulled out the Manila file folder and flipped it open. "So it looks like Bailey Darling was supposed to have been a resident of Storybrooke Orphanage before he was admitted here. The catalyst for his incarceration was…." Whale flipped through the files, then stopped. "Wow. He seared shapes onto his hands in an attempt to keep the shadows from finding him and dragging him to Hell." Baelfire winced at the somewhat accurate statement. It's true that the marks kept Pan from finding him, but there was so much more to his decision to go to such lengths than insanity-driven fear. Luckily, neither Ruby nor Whale noticed Bae's reaction. The doctor continued his search.

"Huh. Looks like Bailey had a driver's license," the plastic card was placed on the table with a click. Baelfire—or at least the part of him that was Bailey—remembered getting that. He had been one of the oldest kids at the orphanage, and they had needed him to shuttle around the younger kids. He had qualified for a Hardship License under Maine law.

"Here's your medical file from the asylum," the doctor continued. "Okay…" He trailed off as he read it. "That's a pretty intense drug cocktail. How are you even functional so soon?"

Baelfire shrugged. "Ratched tended to forget to administer the medication to everyone on a constant basis. By the time the curse broke, I had been off drugs for over a week." Whatever they had pumped him full was strong. It usually took at least a few days to flush out of his system. Luckily, it hadn't been addictive.

Whale's eyes narrowed as he nodded, and Baelfire had a feeling the not-so-good nurse could expect interesting times in the future. How wonderful. He knew this trip had to have been good for something.

The doctor inspected the box for several more minutes, finding a birth certificate, Social Security card, and other things that Baelfire didn't have any use for. Finally, he closed the lid and turned back to his patient.

"We'll have to keep all hospital related files, but the rest you can take with you. Now, we should continue with the physical."

Dr Whale checked Bae's eyes and ears with a strange device, and had the boy perform jumping jacks. As he was checking his blood pressure, however, he began to ask questions unrelated to the hospital.

"So," he began, carefully eyeing the boy. "Rumor has it that you're trying to get the Royals back. That you can find a way to travel between the realms."

"I never listen to rumors. You never know how accurate they are," Baelfire evaded.

"Well say they are accurate," Whale continued. "Would there be ways to realms other than the Enchanted Forest?"

"There are always ways. The trick is finding them." Baelfire carefully watched the doctor's face for any reaction. There was a strange, painful sort of desperation in his eyes.

Dr Whale cleared his throat. "Alright, we're going to do a lung and abdominal exam next. I'm going to need you to take of your shirt for that."

"Why?"

"It can interfere with the stethoscope and I need to feel along your abdomen for any abnormalities."

Bae shrugged and slipped off the long sleeved shirt. Ruby gave out a loud gasp causing Baelfire to spin around, pulling a knife from his boot. There was no one there other than Ruby. "What happened?"

Ruby blinked. "Your back…"

Bae sighed in frustration and shoved the knife back in his boot. "Don't do that again. From now on, that sound officially means 'someone just magically entered the room and is trying to kill me,' not 'I've had a large shock.'"

"What happened to your back?" She demanded. "And, well, all of you?"

She amended, glancing over him. Bae looked at his chest. Right, he had forgotten about those. In his defense, he had had those for a really long time.

"I was injured," he succinctly replied. Stretching across his back, there was a long scar that most likely caused Ruby's initial alarm. Felix had given him it, forgoing his club for a sword for once. He had come up behind Baelfire while the boy was occupied with two of the other Lost Boys. There was a slash across his chest from where he had almost successfully dodged an arrow. Thin, circular marks were on his wrists from the time Pan managed to wrangle him into magic-neutralizing shackles. Other marks littered his body, some where Ruby couldn't see. The deep gouges that had been raked into his skin when the mermaids dragged him beneath the waves with their too sharp fingernails were etched into his leg.

She shot him a look. "I gathered that."

Baelfire shrugged. "I fail to see what you want me to say then. Not all realms are happy places. People get hurt. Are we going to get back to the exam, or can I just put my shirt back on?"

Bae's question spurred Whale back into motion. "Right. Hop back onto the table and we'll take care of that."

Baelfire compiled, and as the doctor was pressing the cold surface of the stethoscope against his chest Ruby asked another question. "Why did you have a knife in your boot?" She asked, a strange affliction in her tone.

Bae glanced at her. "I thought it would be fairly obvious."

"I know, it's just that…. You already have those," she stated as she gestured toward the sword and bow that had been placed in the corner for the duration of the exam. "Why do you need the knife, too?"

Baelfire shrugged. "Sometimes you're disarmed and a hidden blade makes for a handy backup. Sometimes you need a weapon that's better for close up fights than a sword or bow. Sometimes you feel like whittling and it's _way_ easier to do that with a knife than a sword. It all boils down to: knives are handy to have."

"Right…" Ruby trailed off, looking unconvinced.

Baelfire rolled his eyes. "I promise not to stab the majority of the citizens."

"The _majority_?"

"You do realize scars aren't contagious, right?" Baelfire asked, successfully avoiding Ruby's question and startling Dr Whale. The man had been trying to conduct the abdominal check while completely avoiding the scar across Bae's stomach. (He had gotten too close to a wild boar's burrow and it had gouged him with the its tusks before Bae managed to stop it.) "It happened a long time ago; it's not like the wound is going to reopen."

"I know, I just… Uh, we're going to need to know how you received your scars—"

"No," Bae answered immediately. He didn't care what they say, it was more likely that he'd give Ratched a hug than go into what exactly happened in his past.

"It's our policy to find the circumstances behind intensive scarring on minors—"

"Then it's a good thing I'm not a minor then," Baelfire cut in. "I'm currently the oldest person in the room."

They two "adults" in the room attempted to get him to change his mind, but Baelfire wouldn't budge. Eventually, they managed to end the drawn-out exam and Baelfire received a relatively clean bill of health, as long as he managed to get his weight up.

"So, what now?" he asked as they escaped the hospital.

"Well," Ruby began, "we have time before your appointment with Archie. We can take care of your clothes now."

Baelfire's heart dropped. Somehow, he had a feeling this would be even worse than the hospital.

* * *

Baelfire really hated being right all the time.

Honestly, it would be a pleasant surprise to be proven wrong about somethings. Shopping, for example. It would have been great to discover that shopping was a fun experience. Instead, he was subjected to Ruby's fashion tips and comments about how a certain shirt "brought out his eyes." Most of the clothes were in garish colors that would likely get him killed due to a lack of camouflage and almost all of them would hinder him in a fight. Baelfire just barely managed to escape with earthy colors and tactically sound styles.

Somehow, he felt that fighting the wraith had been easier.

Unfortunately, his torment did not end there. Instead, he was dragged to Dr Hopper's office where he was deposited by Ruby for at least two hours in order to give him time to "discuss his feelings." The good doctor has proceeded to inform him that this was a "safe environment" and it was therefore safe to "delve into his inner sanctum and bring his deepest thoughts to light."

Psychiatry had managed to become worse than shopping.

"Would you like to conjecture why the curse put you in an asylum?" Hopper asked.

Baelfire glanced up. The session had been going on for over an hour, and all Hopper seemed to have discovered was that Bae was incredibly reticent. "You never know how important your freedom is until you loose it," Baelfire muttered.

Frankly, he would have preferred to avoid the question all together, but he doubted he could get away with that for this question. Hopper needed _something_ to suggest that Baelfire was in that place for a reason other than insanity, or he wouldn't green light the job. Normally, Bae wouldn't care; he never wanted the job in the first place. But this job was the reason Henry got to stay with him. He _couldn't_ blow it.

Hopper shifted in his seat. "Do you want to expand on that statement?"

No, he didn't. "In Storybrooke, the asylum was the best option available to take away someone's freedom. We don't have a prison, and even if we did there are parole boards and lawyers and escapes and a thousand other ways to get out, if you know how. You can't just lock someone up in a basement, because if you get caught then _you're_ the one that gets locked up. But the asylum was different. If you claim someone is a dangerous lunatic, then nobody wants to let them out. They'll want them institutionalized for everyone's safety. And if the curse makes you so crazy you can't think straight, then you can't figure out how to escape. Even if you manage, they'll just put you back in when they catch you. There was no way out until the curse broke."

"The curse was designed to trap us in a life that made us the most miserable," Hopper stated. "Do you mean to say losing your freedom was what made you the most miserable?"

It was, or at least it was high on the list. He had spent his entire life escaping from cages, whether they be unhappy homes, workhouses, islands, or literal cages. He _hated_ ending up trapped, _again._

However, instead of saying any of that, Baelfire merely shrugged.

Hopper shifted in his seat again. This was going to be a very long session.

* * *

"So, what do you think?" Ruby asked.

Baelfire looked around the Sheriff's Office. His magic fix-it was holding up; the building was still repaired from the wraith's damage. The (completely incompetent) bandits were gone; they must have found a way to take care of them at the town hall meeting.

"It's only temporary," Ruby continued. "As soon as Emma's back you won't have to do this anymore. Speaking of which," she said, looking at Bae intently, "how is that coming?"

Baelfire glanced at her. "I'm almost done with Henry's book. It should be easier to find a way back once I know about what they're dealing with over there. I'm working on a way to communicate with them, but it's slow going. I was never all that interested in learning how to send messages across realms, just moving across them."

Ruby nodded. "Well, if you need anything, just let us know. Now, both Archie and Whale gave the go ahead for you to take the job. Ready to start training?"

Baelfire was ready. At least, he hoped he was.

* * *

Henry left the school in relief. _Finally,_ class was over. Now, he could help Bae with the town.

Speaking of which, Bae was here. He was currently leaning against the schoolyard gate, watching the door. Henry's face split into a smile and he called out, "Bae!"

The wizard's eyes shot towards Henry and he raised a hand in greeting. "How was school?" he asked as Henry ran up.

"It was school. How was work?"

"Well let's see," he said with mock concentration. The two boys began to walk. "I got poked and prodded, both metaphorically and physically, by two different doctors, both of whom received their degrees from an enchantment. I was dragged through Storybrooke's only clothing shop, and learnt that the majority of the clothes in this town is a tactical nightmare. Then, I got to run around town with Ruby, stopping people from killing each other due to unresolved conflicts that happened twenty-eight years ago, all the while having to learn the "proper" way to deal with problems as a sheriff. Apparently, handcuffing them to a lamp post is a last resort. Then, I got to explain every one of my actions to Hopper in minute detail so that they could make sure I was 'acting responsibly' in the field. But, Ruby and the others took the deal and I may have gotten Ratched in trouble. So, all around it wasn't that bad of a day."

"They took they deal? Yes!" Henry exclaimed. Bailey had run the idea of using the position as a way of staying together past him that morning. He hadn't thought they would actually do it, though. "How'd you get them to say yes?"

Bae shrugged. "It wasn't that hard, really. They were pretty desperate to keep the townsfolk from fleeing to the outside world. I did have to agree to supervision from Dr Hopper, so expect him to be hanging around a lot in the near future. If he finds something our situation is affecting either of us negatively, he'll shut us down."

Henry didn't mind that. He liked Archie and Pongo, and he was fine with them dropping by. Besides, Henry doubted they'd be able to find something to stop the arrangement. Despite that he hadn't been living with Henry that long, Bae was good at looking after him. Henry could tell. He always made sure that Henry ate and slept enough and kept an eye out for nightmares. Bae looked out for him with an ease that made Henry wonder if he had done this kind of thing before.

"How's the book coming?" Henry asked as they entered the apartment.

"Almost done," Bailey responded as Henry plopped his bag on the sofa. "I'm working on a couple ideas for communicating with them, but the executing them is going to be a bit harder. I never had much use for sending magical messages."

Worry started to churn in Henry's stomach, but he refused to give up hope. They would get his family back, he knew it. "You'd better finish the book now while I do my homework."

Henry took out his math and tried to focus on it. He knew that if he let his grades drop, Archie and the others may decide not to let Bae and him live together, but it was _hard_ to concentrate on fractions when there was magic to be done. A half-hour later, he had finished his math and was almost through with his English. Then, he heard it.

"I've got it!" Bae exclaimed from across the room.

Henry shot up, his homework immediately forgotten. "You know how to get my family back?" He tried to shove down the hope burning in his chest, but he couldn't. He knew disappointment well, but he never managed to brace himself for the washout that may come.

"Yes! Well, kind of. The possibility is there, but there are still a lot of details to be hammered out."

"What is it?"

"This," Bae declared, laying the book out in front of Henry. The tome was open to one of the beautifully illustrated pages. Prince Charming was crouched next to the wardrobe that allowed his mother to escape the curse, baby Emma in his arms. "It's worked as a portal before, and it can do it again. Magic always remembers."

"But the book said it only had enough magic for one," Henry said, skeptical.

"Doesn't matter. The path between realms is still there, it just doesn't have enough magic to power it. There are ways to recharge it with magic, though. If a glass is filled with only enough water for one person, you can always refill it for someone else, right?"

Henry nodded.

"Well, it's the same way with this."

"Well, how are we going to refill it? And how are we going to tell my family about it?"

"And therein lies our problem," Bae said as he bit his lip in concentration. "But it doesn't make it impossible. There are always ways; you just have to find them." That last bit sounded a bit odd to Henry. It sounded like a mantra, as if Bailey had said it countless times.

Then, he had an idea.

It was a risky idea. There was no guarantee she'd be able to help, and it was unlikely she'd even want to. But she had promised Henry she would change.

He'd just have to put that to the test.

* * *

Regina hadn't left the house in almost twenty-four hours. She hadn't gone outside at all since she had last seen Henry. It would be too tempting to use dark magic, to show some insufferable little peasant who _really_ held the power in this town.

But she had promised Henry.

Regina _couldn't_ break that promise. She couldn't lose Henry. Her precious, perfect son was the first person to truly love her since Daniel. His unconditional love had been like a small, flickering light in her black, bleak heart, burning away at the hate that had weighed it down since she had held her dead fiancé in her arms.

And so she would do everything it took to keep it. Even if it meant walking away from some loud mouthed, obnoxious little _peasant,_ when all she really want to do was let her magic surge through her fingertips and snap the pathetic cretin's neck.

Of course, she didn't trust her impulse control enough to actually walk away. It would be too easy to give into the soft purr of the darkness, to let her magic bubble up through her fingertips and set the world alight with her rage.

Hence, the self-imposed exile.

She hadn't even used magic since she had last seen Henry. Magic was fueled by emotions. Those insipid little creatures, the fairies, used weak, pathetic emotions like _happiness_ and _good will_ to power their magic. Hers specifically relied on hate. To use it would only set back any progress she made in changing. Not that she made any.

All Regina could focus on was her missing son. Henry was a precious, rare person in this world (or any world). He still loved her despite all she had done. She wanted him back with her more than anything else in the world.

That, however, seemed unlikely to ever happen.

The cricket and Snow's overgrown guard dog would fight her every step of the way. That wasn't even considering the newest little _hero_ who quite inconveniently had magic. And if her step-daughter and her pathetic family ever got back to this realm, they'd be sure to take custody of her son, completely cutting her out of his life. As if they had any _right_ to do that. _She_ had raised him when his birth mother threw him away. _She_ had chased away the monsters hiding under his bed and tucked him in at night. Not Emma Swan. Not _Snow White._

Regina closed her eyes and clenched her fists, smothering down the rage-fueled magic threatened to explode. This wasn't working. Everything she did reminded her of the hate and pain that had festered insider her for years. She needed _something_ to help her change!

The doorbell rang. Regina was tempted not to answer it, to leave whatever stupidly brave commoner who dared to come to her door standing there. In the end, she decided to answer it. It may be a good opportunity to practice controlling her temper, and if she failed then slamming the door in their face may make her feel better.

However, the sight that greeted her wiped all thoughts of slamming the door from her mind.

"Henry," she smiled. Her son was there, staring at her with the same stubborn-determined face he had always worn when he was trying to convince her to _just read one more bedtime story mommy._ That memory has greatly decreased the severity of the expression for her, but she always knew that when he looked at her like that, he meant business. "And _Sheriff…"_ She trailed off when she saw her son's companion, and more specifically the bronze badge gleaming on the boy's belt. Really, she shouldn't be so surprised at the moronic townspeople's decision. They had always seemed incredibly willing to throw their lot in with whoever managed to stand up to her and survive, Snow White's little revolution was proof enough of that. Still, making a _child_ their Sheriff? They might as well make the Hatter's brat the mayor! The insufferable child had probably been chomping at the bit to have more chances at heroics.

But as the newly-dubbed Sheriff intently watched her with dark eyes that knew _too much_ , she couldn't assign that as the reason he accepted the position. Through their limited encounters, she had seen how he operated. He always moved with the air of someone that was _old,_ for the lack of a better term. It was as if nothing she could do surprised him. As if he had experienced it all before.

Frankly, the boy unnerved her. The fact that he was powerful, and knowledgeable to boot, didn't help matters.

She pasted on a smile. "How can I help you?"

"Did you mean what you said earlier? About changing?" Henry asked with a driven air.

"Of course," Regina responded. "Henry, I want to change. I want to be better for you."

"Then prove it. Help me get my family back."

Regina's heart dropped. He was here for _this._ "Henry, I'm sorry but I can't. I don't know how."

"You don't have to! Bae thinks he's found a way to get them back, but he needs to talk to them to do it. You were the most accomplished magician in the entire Enchanted Forest when it came to using mirrors! Can you find a way to use mirrors to let us talk to them?"

"Henry, I can't. I've tried, but I don't have enough power to even see an image across the realms, let alone open a line of communication."

"Can you link two mirrors? Make it so they can reflect images to one another?" The boy, Bailey, asked, speaking for the first time.

"Yes, but there's no way to get the second mirror to the Enchanted Forest. It'd be pointless."

"Leave that part to me," Bailey said, watching her. "Will you do it?"

No. She would not help Snow White. She would not help the woman she hated with every cell in her being. That treacherous little snake could rot in the Enchanted Forest.

But Henry was watching her, just like how he used to watch her when their entire world consisted of each other.

 _Please, mommy? Just one more story?_

"For Henry, I will."

* * *

Emma found she really, really hated the Enchanted Forest.

Honestly, you'd think she'd have some kind of warm and fuzzy feeling towards her homeland. But no, she'd really rather be anywhere else but here.

Here, she was stuck in a stupid, small little compound that they _couldn't leave_ while her son was all alone. They hadn't been planning on staying at the refugee camp when they first arrived. The plan had been to load up on supplies, then go looking for the way back as soon as they could.

Instead, they were greeted by a Knight of the freaking Round Table who just so happened to be old friends of her parents (yep, still weird), and were asked a bunch of random questions about Storybrooke before he relayed the bad news. Apparently, a new pack? herd? of ogres had moved into the nearby forest, and could track any scent trail the three of them left back to the camp. If they went to find a way home, then they might as well ring the dinner bell for the ogres.

Emma knew that they couldn't very well risk the entire camp just because she got impatient, but that didn't make her any less _frustrated._ Her son was in a another realm! He was alone! The closest thing he had to family was _Regina!_

 _And she was missing everything again!_

When she had given up Henry, it had been because she had known she wasn't in any position to take care of him. She wasn't even in a position to take care of _herself._ She was still in prison, with no money, no potential jobs, and no support. All she had going for her was a beat up Volkswagen and sheer stubbornness. For her, that was good enough.

But it wasn't good enough for her son.

She knew CPS would be watching her closely if she kept him. She was a seventeen year old orphan with a prison record. They would be ready to take him at the first sign of her struggling. And there was no guarantee that would happen while her child was still a baby. It could happen years down the road, after he put on enough years that no prospective parents would want to adopt him, not when they could have some adorable baby with absolutely no baggage. He would go into the Foster System, and probably end up with the same kind of _piece of crap_ foster parents she did. And she _wouldn't_ put her son through that.

She had to give him his best chance.

And so when he had come screaming into the world, Emma wouldn't hold him. She wouldn't even _look_ at him. She knew if she did, she could never, _ever_ let him go.

So she turned away and gasped that she couldn't be a mother, all the while praying that he would end up so much more loved than she ever was. She _knew_ the doctor and the nurses thought she was some deadbeat that got knocked up but couldn't even bother to acknowledge the existence of the kid. It made her want to scream. _All she had ever wanted was a family and now she had to give hers up to give him his best chance why couldn't they see that?_

And so they took away the only family she may ever have. When she finally got out, she moved from place to place, trying not to think about her son that she never even _saw._ Was he happy? Was he safe? What did he look like? Did he hate her for giving him up?

She swallowed all the heartache and questions right up to the moment she first saw him. Then, everything she had missed in his life had been thrown in her face and he was staring at her with _so much hope,_ as if she was some kind of fairytale hero. All she had wanted to do was get him back to his home before he realized how lucky he was not to have been stuck with the unloved, screwed up little orphan that _no one had ever wanted._

But when she got him back to his home, she started to wonder if giving him up had really been his best chance. His "mother" was _terrible_ , and he had seemed to have latched onto some kind of fairytale delusion just to cope.

So she stuck around, and pretended she wasn't completely terrified at the prospect of putting down roots and letting people past her carefully constructed walls. And suddenly, she had a family. She had a sister in Mary Margaret and a cousin in Ruby and a grandmother in Granny. And, most importantly, she had a son in Henry. And she _promised_ herself she wouldn't miss anything more.

Only she hadn't counted on the curse being real, her 'sister' being her mother, and getting sucked into a fairytale land with overly cliched names.

"It's dangerous to be out here alone, milady," came the voice from behind her, and Emma had to refrain from groaning.

She had only come out here to be alone. After all, she was _good_ at alone. She had been alone her entire life. Only now, her parents wanted to be a _family_ , and have a relationship with her _twenty-eight years too late_. And so she had gone to the forest to brood under the pretense of collecting firewood.

Honestly, Emma doubted that the camp even needed firewood.

"I think I'll be fine," she ground out, hoping Roger would get the message and go away. He didn't. Well, the jackass had probably gotten the message, but chosen to ignore it.

Emma really, really hated Roger.

She could admit he was charming (but only to herself where absolutely _no one_ could hear her), but that wasn't everything that mattered in a guy, despite what her parents' nicknames suggested. Besides, he was a _liar._

Oh, he hid it well. On the outside he appeared perfectly chivalrous, the image of helpfulness. Lancelot was the same way. Both of them were hiding something, something big. They were good actors, but not great ones. They couldn't beat her superpower.

Emma had tried to talk to Mary Margaret and David about it, if for no other reason than to make a plan, but they had always managed to misunderstand her in their quest to steer the conversation back to _family,_ and their not-so-subtle hints that she could call them mom and dad. Eventually, she gave up on alerting them. But that didn't mean she had stopped watching Roger and Lancelot.

"Really, milady, I must insist you allow me to accompany you," Roger said. "You'll need assistance if the ogres come."

Emma ground her teeth and refrained from telling him where exactly he could shove his _assistance._ "Suit yourself." Please, please, _please_ just let him _shut up_ while he's here.

"So," he began as he joined her in gathering up kindling. Great, now he was _chatting_ with her. "The news that the Princess Aurora brings of your boy is quite good."

Emma didn't reply, but she knew what he was referring to. Hours ago, Aurora had awoken with a start, babbling about dreamcatchers and burning rooms and Bailey. Eventually, Mary Margaret had managed to figure out that she was talking about the same burning room she herself had visited after being awoken from the Sleeping Curse. Apparently Henry was being pulled there too, and Bailey had managed to find a way to circumvent the flames. Emma was grateful for that, _so grateful._ Her son was safe from the horrors of the burning room, and he hadn't needed Regima or Gold—sorry, Rumplestiltskin—to do it. She was glad the wizard was still sticking around, helping Henry.

She just couldn't managed to shut up the small, ugly part of her that was jealous that she hadn't been the one to chase Henry's nightmares away.

Unfortunately, Henry had woken up before Aurora could ask him anything. What's worse, the dreamcatchers only worked when Henry was asleep. According to Aurora, the moment Henry disappeared the "swirling, magical walls" had shattered inward, blowing the grasping hands of flames toward the princess.

"This Bailey seems to be quite skilled at the art of magic," he continued. "Do you know where he learnt it?"

Ah, and there it was. Somehow, this guy always managed to work Bailey into the conversation. Everything was a probe for information. Thankfully, Emma, David, and Mary Margaret didn't know much about the mage. While she wasn't about to give away anything, her parents didn't know to be so cautious.

"Nope," Emma bluntly replied as she turned and started to walk back to camp.

In her experience as a bail-bondsperson, the suspect always tripped up and gave themselves away; she just had to watch close enough to catch them. So that was what she would do here, carefully watch everything Roger and Lancelot did. And when they slipped up, she would notice, and whatever they were planning could be stopped. Then…..

Then, she would get back home. She would go back to her son and not miss anymore of his life. She had already missed far too much.

* * *

 **Merry Christmas everyone! Okay, sorry this was so late, the Christmas season was** _ **hectic.**_ **Okay, on reviews:**

ArdeaSpark: **First of all, thank you for always reviewing. You seriously make my day. About Blue, I don't really like her either. As consequence, neither will Bae. I think she's way too high and mighty with the "pure of heart" thing. Also, she gives up on people too fast (see: Tinkerbell and Regina). Baelfire won't see eye to eye with her on several things, especially since he was kind of friends/acquaintances with Tink on Neverland. Expect them to butt heads, but don't expect Blue to be the overarching villain in this. I see her as misguided and stuck in her ways, not the embodiment of evil. Besides, in this fic if the villain gets a redemption, it's going to be because they accepted that their actions were wrong and took responsibility for them. They have to work to be better than what they were before. To make everything bad that happened in the show occur because of Blue would undermine that.**

Syed: **When I saw your review, I thought one thing: wow. Several of your ideas I had already planned to incorporate. For instance, Regina was going to be the one to teach Henry how to horseback ride from the beginning. Kudos to you for figuring it out. However, while I was always planning on having Baelfire and Regina collaborate in order to get the Charmings back, the idea of Bae teaching Regina how to use magic for good was a fantastic idea I hadn't thought of at all. That is definitely going to happen from now on, along with Bae telling Regina his father made the same promise. So, everyone, thank** syed **for that one. As you can see, contact has already been made with Cora and Hook, but I have a plan for that, just like I have one for August and Daniel. I wasn't really sure about your reasoning behind time travel or memory charms, but I can tell you that isn't at play here. Sorry. Thanks again for the fantastic ideas!**

 **Okay, I know not much really** _ **happened**_ **in this chapter, but this chapter was more meant to set everything up that was to come. I tried to set up some checks and balances for Bae with the whole Sheriff thing, and I made sure not to completely neglect his education. Next chapter we'll finally see a little bit of Rumple, and after that he'll be a much more prominent character. Then, the plot will pick up. Thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Okay, this chapter is kind of set between the episodes** _"_ The Lady of the Lake" **and** "The Crocodile." **My fic only follows the basic outline of the show, so don't expect the exact occurrences of the show's episodes with slight alterations of the script to accommodate the addition of Baelfire. There will be a lot of changes. That's why this is an AU. Also, on flashbacks: they're going to be out of order, like how it is in the show. First chapter we saw Bae's escape from Neverland, now we see something that happened early in his time there. Also, I decided I didn't like the look/feel of italics for flashbacks. So from now on, you're going to have to use context clues to figure it out, if I don't tell you beforehand. Don't worry, it should be fairly obvious.**

Syed: **Thanks for another great review! However, I'm afraid there's been a miscommunication. Baelfire is not Henry's father. Neal never existed. In my fic, Baelfire is Henry's best friend/honorary older brother, but he isn't blood related. Sorry for the confusion! But don't worry, I already have a plan to get Tamara into town. The idea about Regina summoning Blue as a kid is interesting. I'll take it under consideration and see if I can work it into the story. Thanks for all the great ideas!**

 **Huge thank you to everyone that followed, and favorited. Thanks to** syed, ArdeaSpark, **and** Catspook **for reviewing. You all fuel my writing! Also, I'm so sorry this is so late! I slammed face first into writer's block during just** _ **one scene**_ **and it took me forever to get past it! Combine that with the fact that this is one of my longest chapters yet, and it became a really slow update. Sorry everyone!**

* * *

 **Of Broken Families and Shattered Souls**

 **Chapter Six:** In Which Henry Is Disappointed By The Lack Of Knowledge Of Both Code Words and Dinosaurs

'Put him with the others' was apparently cruel-hulking-boy for: 'shove him into the clearing where everyone else is gathered around a massive fire hazard.'

Baelfire only stumbled slightly when he was roughly pushed out of the tree line, but the other boys still laughed. He shot them defiant glares to hide his fear. He remembered the many searches they conducted of the Jolly Roger while he was still with the _Pirate._ They had never stopped pursuing him, and now that they had him he wasn't sure what would happen. He did have a vast imagination to provide him with gruesome possibilities, however. Living with his Papa had given him ample examples.

 _Stop. Don't think about that._ Don't think about Papa, who chose some _godforsaken dagger_ over his own _son._ Don't think about Hook, who spewed his father's _exact same lies_ about changing and family before _selling_ Bae to some nameless demon just to secure his _own damned future_. Don't think about the jagged feeling of betrayal sitting in his gut, like broken glass throbbing with every beat of his shattered heart. And _especially_ don't think about the Darlings who _wanted and loved him_ , who he would likely never see again. _Just don't think._

Baelfire glanced around the clearing to distract him from his thoughts. There were boys milling about the area, maybe between fifteen and twenty of them: the Lost Boys. Many of them were glancing at him, eyes filling with trepidation before glancing away again. Several of them were tending to the massive fire in the center. Frankly, Baelfire thought the bonfire would only end up causing a forest fire, which was a terrible idea seeing as they were in the center of a heavily wooded jungle. Perhaps it was just him with these worries. Suddenly the fire flared, causing several of the boys to leap back, barely avoiding severe burns, and others to laugh excitedly.

"Welcome Baelfire," the voice caused Bae's head to snap to the right. There was a large boulder situated at the edge of the clearing. On top of the rock stood an all-too-familiar boy, staring at him with a smug look glued to his face.

Baelfire's heart beat harder against his chest as he took in the magician, but that was the only sign of his increasing fear. "Piper," he greeted lowly.

The smug look only increased. "I see you remember me."

It was hard to forget someone like the Pied Piper. If the his father's fear of the boy hadn't been enough to engrave the memory into Bae's mind, his pipe certainly was. For days after the event it had been a struggle to do anything but lay in bed, feeling empty without the thrilling call of the pan pipe. "You made an impression."

"I always try to. Only here, I don't go by the Pied Piper. Here, I'm Pan. Peter Pan."

"What do you want, Pan?" Baelfire bluntly asked. He was sick of mind games and lies and _magic._ For once, he just wanted a straight answer.

Pan smirked as he spread his arms wide. "Why, to welcome you to my Lost Boys, of course."

The Lost Boys. Wendy had painted them just as their names implied: lost. The crew of the Jolly Roger had described them differently, however. Most of the them they simply referred to them as " _His_ murderous little syncopaths." The problem was, Baelfire wasn't sure which rendering was the correct one.

"I don't recall ever agreeing to join them."

Pan's damnable smirk was worrying Bae. It looked like his father's, and whenever his father had worn that grin it usually meant someone had just been killed. "Oh, but you did," he simpered. "The moment you took my shadow's hand you became a Lost Boy. In fact," he said as he turned to address the group. "I'd like to dedicate a song to our newest Lost Boy, Baelfire." With a sly grin the magic user lifted his pipes to his lips.

Baelfire opened his mouth, perhaps to ask him what on earth was going on, perhaps to inform him that there wasn't a chance in _hell_ he'd become a Lost Boy, perhaps just to yell. Nobody would ever know, because the almost sickeningly-sweet tune pouring out from the pipes stopped him dead in his tracks. It was _whispering_ to him again, just as it had an eternity ago in the Enchanted Forest. It _hummed_ in his bones, _calling,_ telling him to _join the dance be one of us forget all your woes._

And the Piper played.

Baelfire barely registered the other boys as they began to spin and twist and tumble around the flames. All he could think about was the _song._ It flooded his senses and invaded his mind and became _part_ of him. He found himself swaying to the tune, without knowing when he had started or how to stop.

And the Piper played.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, a voice was whispering that this was _magic,_ the same thing that had destroyed his family and could very well destroy him. It screamed that the Piper couldn't be trusted, that he should flee into the forest as fast as his legs could take him.

And the Piper played.

But then that worry was swept away with all the others, the roaring stream the song had become clearing away all the thoughts in his mind.

And the Piper played.

In a strange, elated daze Baelfire began to move. He joined the spinning and twisting and tumbling. He began to dance.

And the Piper played.

* * *

"Take it easy kid! You don't need to become a master in one night!"

"No," Henry panted. "I'm fine. We can keep going."

Baelfire was starting to get worried about Henry. The boy had woken up early and promptly asked Bae if they could continue the fighting lessons. Baelfire hadn't been bothered by the request. He himself had been up for hours. While he had, in fact, slept (for the first time since he had escaped, actually), it wasn't for very _long._ Nightmares had quickly woken him up, as they had practically every night for many, many years. Baelfire was an expert at dodging sleep, but this had the unfortunate consequence of him being unaware of an average person's sleep schedule. Therefore he was unable to determine if it was a socially acceptable time for Henry to be awake.

The request in itself wasn't all that strange. Many young boys were excited at the concept of learning to fight (the Lost Boys certainly had been), and it would have been good for Henry to learn how to protect himself considering the town's many _problems._ He had agreed immediately.

But now, Bae was starting to see cracks appearing in Henry's facade of nonchalance. He was practicing each move rather desperately, as if it was incredibly important he learnt it all _right then._ He refused to take breaks, insisting he was fine when Baelfire could quite clearly see that he was not.

"Well, can I please stop for a breather? I'm not as young as I used to be," Baelfire said.

Henry wasn't biting. He frowned. "Don't lie. You're not even sweating or breathing heavily. You're not tired."

Baelfire was well aware of these facts. While Henry did show a lot of potential, he had almost no experience. Sparring him wasn't exactly a challenge. "Fine, I am as young as I used to be. Having your aging process hindered does that. That doesn't mean we shouldn't stop though."

Henry groaned and flopped down at the table dramatically. His head smacked against the countertop. He groaned again.

"Something you want to talk about, Henry?"

"No," came the muffled reply.

"Are you sure? Because it looks like something's wrong."

Henry gave in much sooner than Baelfire thought he would have. He must have really wanted to talk about it. "It's just… I can't do anything! Ruby's coordinating the relief efforts and the Dwarves are mining for fairy dust and you're Sheriff, but I'm stuck in school doing nothing! I can't help anyone and I hate it!"

"And you think learning to fight will help you help people," Baelfire restated.

"At least it's something! I can protect people of I know how to fight!"

"Well, did you ever think that there's more than one way to help? Ruby's coordinating efforts because she's good at it. The Dwarves are mining because, well, they're dwarves. They were literally born to mine. And I'm mainly Sheriff because the town blackmailed me into it, but that's beside the point. They chose me because my magic allows me to handle things others can't. We all help, but in ways we're good at."

Henry looked at him skeptically. "So you're saying I should stick to my strengths?"

Bae shrugged. "Just a suggestion. But I know that running yourself into the ground to learn hand-to-hand combat is not the answer."

Henry nodded slowly, but still didn't look convinced.

Emma's phone rang. Ruby had let Bae keep it, seeing as Emma had already routed all the Sheriff calls to go to her cell. It had been going off ever since he got the job. Last night it had been blessedly silent though. Until now. Bae looked at Henry, an unspoken apology in his eyes.

"Duty calls."

* * *

Henry tapped his fingers against the tabletop. Keeping to his strengths….

What were his strengths, exactly?

He had been good at breaking the curse. While it had been Emma that actually did it, he had helped. He had been good at getting Emma to do what was necessary. Maybe he was a good coordinator? Maybe he could do the background work required to get people to solve problems…

"Hi Henry," came the glum voice above him.

Henry glanced up. Paige was there, as sad look on her face. He was surprised. Why was she here so soon? The bus didn't come for at least another half hour.

Henry was waiting in Granny's. He was old enough to be left home alone while Bae worked, but he hadn't wanted to stay in the apartment. It only reminded him of his missing family. So he had asked Bae to poof him over to Granny's to wait for the bus. It was a lot more lively there, and he liked to watch them prepare the restaurant for the coming day.

"Hey Paige," he responded. "What are you doing here so early?"

Her already stormy expression darkened further. "I came to see if there was any news on my Papa, but there hasn't been. I don't know where else to look!"

"I'm sure that you'll find him. I mean, Storybrooke's a small town. Someone's sure to see him."

Paige looked like she was about to cry. "I don't even know if he's in Storybrooke. Papa's been missing since before the curse."

"Have you put up a sign?"

"Yeah, but no one's answered it," she glumly replied. "Maybe it's not drawn well enough for anyone to recognize him."

"There's got to be a way to find out if he's in town," Henry said. Then, he got an idea.

Well, Bailey had told him to play to his strengths.

The job had been easy. Some guy had moved out to the edges of Storybrooke to start a pumpkin farm, and his neighbors were calling in a noise complaint. All Baelfire had to do was go over to tell him to quiet down.

When he got back, all he had expected was to have to write a detailed report to go over with Hopper. Instead, he was confronted by Henry and a girl he didn't recognize.

"Hey Henry," he greeted. "Aren't you supposed to be in school?"

"School hasn't started yet," he responded. "Bae, this is Paige. Paige, this is Bailey. He's the Sheriff."

Bae nodded a hello, then shot a questioning look at Henry.

"Paige's dad has been missing since before the curse," he clarified. "I thought we could help her find him."

"Has she tried Granny's? That's where they're organizing the townspeople."

"Nobody's answered her flyer. Can you find out if he's in town?"

"I can try. Paige, do you have anything that belonged to him?"

She shook her head miserably.

"Okay then, we'll just have to do this the old fashioned way."

"What's the old fashioned way?" she asked.

Bae cracked a small smile. "Looking really, really hard for him. Do you have a picture of him?"

She gave a small nod and reached into her bag. "I drew it myself," she explained as she handed it over. "It's not very good though; I don't think you'd be able to recognize him with that."

Unfortunately, the girl was right. It was crudely drawn with crayons and didn't depict any distinctive features. It only told him the man had dark hair and light eyes. Half the men in town fit that description. He turned and walked towards his bag. "Alright Paige, I'm going to need your help for this. I need you to focus on the last time you saw your father."

Baelfire had found what he was looking for in the bag. A dreamcatcher. The first and only dreamcatcher he ever made for the purpose of capturing memories, in fact.

"Why?" she questioned with a watery glance towards him. "What is that?" the girl asked before he could answer her first question.

"This," he said, "is a dreamcatcher. And it's very old, like me, so let's be careful with it. This is going to show us any memory you focus on. And if you focus on the last time you saw your father, then we'll have his most recent description."

He held it up to the girl's forehead and watched the scene play out. By the end of it, he was frowning. "He left?" Bae questioned before he could stop himself. "He didn't just disappear?"

"Well, yeah," Paige replied. "But he was going to come back," she reassured. Bae wondered who she was reassuring, him or herself. "Something stopped him."

Baelfire nodded and spun back towards his (Emma's) desk before he could say anything else. He grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil and began to sketch out a rough depiction of the man's face. "Here," he told Paige. "This should help people recognize him if I can't find him."

"I didn't know you could draw, Bae," Henry said, glancing at the picture. "That's really good."

Baelfire shrugged. "It's just a sketch."

The school bus rolled past the window, leaving exhaust fumes in its wake. The three of them followed its path with their eyes. "We missed the bus," Henry unnecessarily declared.

"I can see that," Bae replied. "Alright, grab your stuff and get in the police cruiser." He snatched the car keys up from the desk and moved towards the door. The two kids didn't move with him. "Problem?"

"You can _drive?"_ Henry asked. "Like, legally? And without crashing?"

The wizard rolled his eyes. "Yes, the curse gave me my license. Let's go before you're late."

"The _curse_ gave you your license?" Paige chimed in. "Have ever actually, you know, _driven_ a car? In real life?"

" _Yes,_ Ruby tested me before giving me the keys. Let's go, or we'll _both_ be late."

Hesitantly, the two kids followed him. They all rounded the corner and entered the cruiser. Bae glanced back at his passengers. They were currently wearing two seat belts a piece (and considering the amount of twisting they had to do to get the seat belts to do that, it was an impressive feat) and had braced themselves against the side of the car. Henry shot him a small thumbs up before returning his hand to its previous position. "We believe in you, Bae."

"Your confidence is staggering," he dryly replied as he shifted the car into gear. "You both do realize that everyone in Storybrooke got their license from the curse, right?"

"Yeah, but they got in at least some practice during the curse. Maybe we shouldn't talk, it could be distracting."

Baelfire rolled his eyes but complied. After a short, safe, and crash-free drive they arrived at the school. "See? Nobody died in a horrific ball of flames! Have a good day at school," he called after Paige as she called a thanks and fled from the vehicle (Bae had no idea why, the drive had been completely safe).

"So, can you really find her dad?" Henry asked as he tried to untangle himself from the (totally unnecessary) extra belts.

"I can _try_ to find her dad. I can't make any promises. Especially if he doesn't want to be found," he added to himself. Henry wasn't meant to hear that last part, but he still did.

"What do you mean?" Henry asked.

"He left. He didn't come back. Sometimes, we think a person wouldn't leave us for anything, but we're wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong. I have to consider the possibility that he hasn't been found because he doesn't _want_ to be found."

Henry shook his head stubbornly. "There are a million other reasons why he never came back. We don't have to assume that it's because he wanted to leave her."

Baelfire bit his tongue to keep himself from telling Henry that yes, they did, because not all families motto was "I will always find you." Sometimes people left, and it hurt a hell of a lot less if you weren't completely blindsided by it when it came. He _couldn't_ tell Henry that. Not when the boy was so painfully optimistic about everything, just like…

 _No, Bae,_ he thought. _Don't. Don't go there._

He refocused on the problem at hand. He had to at least try to find this girl's father. He had promised Henry, and honestly speaking, he would still do it even if he hadn't promised. Paige's situation was a bit too similar to many of the Lost Boys' for his taste. He had half a plan, one that had been brewing in his mind since Bae had learnt her father had left. He looked at Henry.

"What time is your recess?"

* * *

While he had lived on the streets, Baelfire had known an opium dealer.

It wasn't a friendship kind of thing. It wasn't even an acquaintance kind of thing. It was more like a Bae-had-seen-what-his-merchandise-had-done-to-other-people-so-he-avoided-him-as-much-as-possible kind of thing. However, he had been the main dealer for people living on the streets; it was impossible to avoid him. Baelfire would turn the corner, and there he would be, providing another desperate soul with a fix.

Bae hadn't known much about him. He hadn't even known his name. But what he did know about the Dealer (what everyone knew) was that he didn't always take his payments in cash.

Sometimes, he would ask for _favors_ instead.

(Once, he had offered Baelfire a taste in exchange for a _favor._ Bae had fled before he ever discovered what the favor had been.)

Baelfire had hated that word. _Favors._ It had implied that it was free, as long as they did just one simple thing in return; not even a payment at all, just a trade amongst friends. Nothing in that or any realm had been free. To claim so had been a lie.

The Dealer would lie often, Baelfire noticed.

 _(All your troubles will float away, it doesn't cost much, nothing could ever go wrongwrongwrong)_

His favors had never been as simple as they first appeared. Bae had seen men hang because of the _favors_ , all for the sake of _just one more, please just one more fix._ He had seen even more tearstained women (not women, girls really, some only a little older than Morraine) with small, starving babies that had the same pale eyes and crooked nose as the person who had promised them _it's just one small favor, really_.

But they kept coming back to the Dealer.

 _(just one more, pleasepleaseplease just one more fix)_

That was the part Baelfire had never understood. Why had they kept coming back? What made them keep returning, pale and shaking hands grasping for _just one more_ when they had seen what came of his _favors?_

And now, all these months later, he finally understood.

Everything had been empty before the fix. Then, it momentarily filled you up, making everything seem not as bad as it was before. Your problems floated away, and for just one small moment, it truly did seem like nothing could go wrong.

Then, that moment ended, and everything was worse than it had been before the _fix._

You were even emptier. Your problems were heavier than they were before. And suddenly, _everything_ could go wrong.

And you would do _anything_ to get back that momentary lightness, no matter the _favor._

Baelfire understood this with absolute certainty the morning after the pipe had ended its song.

He had woken up on the ground, along with the Lost Boys, and the first thing he noticed was that everything _hurt._ It wasn'ta physical ache. No, it was so much worse. It was the deep seated, burn in your bones and scream in your mind ache that came from being abandoned, twisted and amplified until all you could hear was _they didn't want you you weren't good enough you will_ never _be good enough._

Baelfire jerked to his feet and staggered out of the camp. He knew he couldn't get away, not yet at least. He just needed to be _somewhere else_ while he collected himself. He stumbled to a stop against a tree about a hundred feet away from the camp. He rested his head against the trunk and squeezed his eyes shut in hope the pain would stop.

Instead, the whispers started.

Bae's eyes shot open as he tried to locate the source of the noise. It seemed to be coming from all around him, from the trees and the ground and the sky. It was a meaningless jumble of sound, an ancient language that seemed foreign and familiar all at once. And the whispers seemed to stir… _something_ inside of him.

He had felt it before. When he was younger, sometimes he would feel it. A strange, white hot flame flickering inside of him, terrifying and thrilling all at once. Years ago, he had managed to convince himself that it was all in his head. Now, he wasn't so sure. Hesitantly, he leaned towards the tree in an attempt to better hear the voices.

"Problem, Bael—"

Pan caught the stick Baelfire swung at him with a practiced ease. "Nice reflexes," he smirked.

Bae stepped backwards, his cheeks burning. He was on edge; unknown environments always put him on a hairpin trigger. When he first arrived in London he had jumped at everything, and fled from anything resembling a confrontation. "What do you want, Pan?"

"Just coming to check on you. You seemed ill when you left the camp," the Piper simpered.

Bae bit his tongue. He was tempted to tell the mage exactly where he could shove his concern, or to question whose fault his current state was. However, he still had the manners his Papa had ingrained in him, no matter how undeserving Pan was of polite conversation. So instead he hissed out, "I'm fine." Before the magician could respond, he spun on his heel as walked away, trying to ignore the smirking boy and the whispers and the _burn burn burn_ of the flame.

"You shouldn't fight it, you know," Pan called after him.

Baelfire stopped dead in his tracks. "Fight what?" he called back as he turned. Could he know about the… whatever it was? How could he, though? Baelfire himself didn't know what to call the ball on energy that sat in the pit of his stomach, only stirring occasionally.

"The song," Pan replied, seemingly unaware or uncaring of Bae's internal plight. "Did you not notice that you were the only one negatively affected by it? It will only hurt you if you fight it."

"What does your song do?" Baelfire probed.

"Surely you've noticed," he evaded. The problem was, he was right. Bae _had_ noticed.

"It makes you forget," he muttered. "It makes you forget all your pain, everything that made you lost in the first place."

Pan shot him a smug look, and Baelfire got the feeling that he had just lost a game he hadn't known he was playing. "Precisely. And therein lies your problem, Bae. You fight the song, fight to remember, and it only hurts you in the end. But it doesn't have to be that way," he reassured, stepping forward. "It will stop hurting for you, just like it did for all the others. All you have to do is let go."

It was tempting, _so tempting,_ to do as he said. To let go off all the pain, heartache, and betrayal. To forget.

But he _couldn't._

"No," he replied, shaking his head. "No. I don't want to forget. The memories aren't all bad. Besides, I don't need to be like all the others; I already have a family."

For the first time, Pan's damnable smirk disappeared. "Who?" he challenged. "Your father? Hook? They didn't want you, Bae. They let you go, tossed you out like garbage. They're not your family."

Bae swallowed. "No," he hoarsely responded. "They're not. The Darlings are."

"The Darlings?" he scoffed. "You were a charity case to them. You weren't their family! You were the mangy dog that their daughter dragged in off the street!"

"No," Bae whispered, clenching his fists. "You're wrong."

"Am I? Why are you here then? My shadow was about to take Michael. Why are you here instead of him?"

"Because of you," Bae hissed back. "I took Michael's place because I loved him. But I'm here because _your_ shadow kidnapped me!"

"But the Darlings let you go," Pan retorted. "They chose Michael over you. You were expendable to them, he wasn't."

"No," Bae denied, shaking his head. "You're wrong. They loved me. Which is why I have to get back to them. I'm not lost, Pan. I don't belong in your Lost Boys; you have to let me go."

"Do I now?" he smirked. "I'm afraid I couldn't even if I wanted to. There is no way off of Neverland."

Baelfire's heart felt like it was being squeezed by a hard, icy fist. _No._ Pan was lying, he had to be.

Only, Baelfire wasn't so sure that he was. During his time on the streets, he had become skilled at detecting lies, but he had no idea if Pan was lying now. The boy confused him, seeming so familiar and so foreign all at once. He could claim the sky was speckled with purple dots and Baelfire wouldn't be able to tell if he was lying.

Suddenly reassuring, Pan placed his hand on Bae's shoulder. The boy tried to shrug it off, but it remained firmly planted on his shoulder. "But it doesn't have to be this way, Bae," Pan smiled, and Baelfire was reminded of the all-too-innocent smile of the Dealer. "You can become one of my Lost Boys, forget all your troubles, or you could spend all your time searching for a way back to a family that never really wanted you in the first place. I'd think carefully about the decision, if I were you."

Then, Pan was gone, leaving Baelfire alone with the pain in his head, the whispers surrounding him, and the _burn burn burn_ of the flame in his chest.

* * *

Bae smoothly pulled the Sheriff's car into the cemetery parking lot. He took a deep breath and exited the vehicle, shaking off all the memories of abandonment and betrayal that had plagued him the entire ride over. He would need his wits about him for his next meeting.

 _Well,_ he thought, _the Queen certainly knows how to choose a spooky yet cliche location for her Vault._

He had been surprised by her request for assistance. She seemed like the type who would rather slog through the problems herself than ask for help from an enemy. However, he wasn't about to say no. Not only would Henry never forgive him, but he would loose a chance to speed the process of returning the Royals while simultaneously learning a new magic.

Bae found his way to the largest mausoleum in the cemetery. The door was already cracked open. Cautiously, he slipped into the building and glanced around. The large stone coffin in the center of the room had been pushed to the side, revealing a descending staircase beneath the floors.

The former regent's irritated voice floated up from the lower level. "Would you hurry up, magic boy? I don't have all day."

"I suppose being the mayor is a time consuming profession," he called as he descended. "Oh, wait…."

Baelfire knew he shouldn't be antagonizing her, but it had been automatic. After so many years of mind games with Pan, he always had a sharp retort on the edge of his tongue. It was his armor, something that hid exactly how deep his opponent's verbal barbs had struck. Only now, it still came out non-threatening situations.

Bae pushed aside the stab of shame he felt. Wallowing in self-loathing would do him no good now; he could work on his people skills later. For now, he needed to focus.

(Still, a small part of him couldn't help but mourn on the loss of the polite, quiet boy from the Enchanted Forest who would never dream of speaking a harsh word to anyone.)

"Hello, Regina," he greeted. "Henry asked me to say hello from him as well as thank you for doing this. He wanted to be here too, but he had school."

Baelfire watched as a small bit of her ice cold expression melted at the mention of her son, and for a moment he thought that she may actually be able to "change" as she had promised.

Then, he remembered that his father used to look at him the same way, and the thought vanished.

"Henry," she said, trying to look nonchalant (and utterly failing at it). "How is he?"

"He's good. His nightmares have as good as stopped. The few times he travels to the Netherworld is foggy and unclear. He misses his family though."

"Ah," she said, looking downcast. "Yes, I suppose he would miss the Charmings."

"He does," Bae responded, watching her intently. "But you're included in his family. He misses you too. He asked me to make sure that no one harassed you while you were trying to change; he was worried about you."

"And what did you tell him?"

Baelfire shrugged. "That as long as I was Sheriff I would make sure to stop any trouble, no matter who it was directed at."

Regina snorted. "How noble of you."

Bae ignored the barb. While he doubted he could ever be the same quiet little boy he was when lived in the Enchanted Forest, he could still try to improve. "So, what did you need help with?"

"I need you to lay the preliminary enchantments," she said, gesturing to the two mirrors propped up in the corner. "The final connection will have to be formed when the moon reaches its zenith."

Bae glanced over at her work. There were a series of runes painted on the frame and face of the mirror. Intricate work, but didn't actually involve using magic. Baelfire raised his hand and focused, trying to twist his magic in the correct manner so that it interacted properly with the runes. If he did this incorrectly the mirrors would shatter, and they'd have to start from scratch. The script shimmered and sank beneath the surface. The object momentarily glowed, and then sat innocently on the table, no visible sign of an enchantment.

"You're not using your magic," Bae observed.

Regina glanced at him, startled, but quickly covered up her shock. "No, I'm not. I thought it would set back changing." She glanced over the boy, calculating. "You don't think I can do it," she accused.

"Stop using magic?" Baelfire snorted. "No, I don't. Take it from someone who's tried, you can't stop using magic. It refuses to be contained. Once it's a part of you, no matter what, it always finds a way out."

She seemed surprised momentarily, but forgoed the information that he attempted to quit magic in favor of pursuing the previous subject. "You don't think I can change," she snapped. "You think I'm going to fail Henry."

Baelfire stared at her, considering. "No, I don't think you can change," he answered honestly. "I think you're going to try, but inevitably slip back into old habits."

"Why?" she challenged.

"Honestly? Because I've seen it happen," Bae took in a deep breath. He didn't think Regina could change. Didn't _believe_ she could change. And belief was everything, even if he wasn't on Neverland anymore. "My father made the exact same promise to me. And just like Henry, I was so _freaking_ convinced he could change. But in the end, it didn't matter. _I_ didn't matter. He chose power over me. So yes, I know what dark magic does to someone. I've _seen_ what it does. And in the end, the call of dark magic so much stronger than any feeble desire to change."

Regina was watching him. "Have you told any of this to Henry?"

Bae glanced at her. "Even if I had told him, it wouldn't matter. He wouldn't give up on you. He'd believe in you, right up to the moment you give up on him." Bae looked at Regina directly. "I don't want to see Henry hurt, Regina. I can't stop him from believing in you, but that doesn't mean I'll sit by and watch him get hurt. If you try anything, I will do everything in my power to stop you."

Regina drew in a large breath and seemed to come to a decision. "Okay. Then teach me light magic."

"I'm sorry?"

Regina looked at him in challenge. "You don't want to see Henry hurt; neither do I. If dark magic hurts my chances with him, then teach me light magic."

Bae looked at her as if she was crazy. "It's not that simple."

"Make it that simple. Teach me magic."

"No, it's really not that simple," he insisted. "You've spent your entire life learning dark magic. Trying to learn light magic would be about as easy as trying to learn how to ride a motorcycle along the edge of a cliff while blindfolded! It's completely different from any magic you've ever done!"

She glared at him. "Henry trusts you. If you don't help me, then you'll be betraying that trust."

Baelfire's eyebrows shot up. "Are you serious?"

The look on Regina's face was answer enough.

Shaking his head, Bae responded. "You know what, fine. If you want to try, and you're willing to actually put forth the effort, than I'll do it. But you have to actually work at this. No giving up the moment it gets hard. It would crush Henry if you did."

Regina glared at him. "I _never_ give up."

"Come over to the apartment tonight at seven. We can work until it's time to cast the final enchantment on the mirrors." Baelfire turned to leave, then stopped. On the shelf next to him there laid a small, innocuous box. It caught his attention immediately, or more accurately, the aura it was projecting did. It was the exact same magical signature as the one that absolutely drenched this entire town.

The Dark Curse.

"You didn't make it, did you?" he breathed, not turning away from the box.

The thought had been plaguing him ever since the Curse had broken. The Dark Curse was the most intricate spell Baelfire had ever even _heard_ of, let alone experienced. It would have taken hundreds of years to make it. Regina only began to plan this when Snow White married. The Curse had been cast one year later. Even if she had been forming it her entire life, she still wouldn't have had enough time. There were very few candidates who had the skill and time to build it. The Sorcerer and maybe the Apprentice had the lifespans and power to make it, but the last time Bae checked Merlin had been stuck in a tree and, based off of his reputation, would have never dared to make something so dark in the first place. The Apprentice was like minded towards the curse, and had usually counted on his master for the magical innovations. It was unlikely either of them created it.

But there was another person who could make such a spell.

"Who made it?" Bae demanded when the Queen gave no answer.

"Rumplestiltskin."

* * *

"T-Rex to velociraptor. The compy has not approached the nest. I repeat, the compy has not approached the nest. Over."

Bae stared at the walkie-talkie in his hand. Then, he slowly raised it to his lips and quite eloquently stated, "What?"

He could hear Henry's exasperated sigh. "No sign of Paige's dad yet."

"Right," Baelfire slowly said. "Why didn't you just say that in the first place and what the heck is a velociraptor? Or anything else you just said, for that matter?"

"It's no fun if you don't speak in code and a velociraptor is a dinosaur. Didn't your curse memories tell you any of that?"

"Apparently not."

Henry sounded pained. "Alright. We can fix this. We'll start by binge watching the Jurassic Park movies. Not the most accurate, but it at least introduces the concept."

"Uh-huh," Bae replied, somewhat worried. "Where are you anyway?"

"In the tree over the jungle gym."

"Why?"

"It provides the best view of street. Any sign of Jefferson yet?"

Baelfire sighed. "Not on my end. It was always a long shot anyways."

Jefferson had left. But he wasn't planning on staying away, at least not at first. Either something made him change his mind about returning, or something had stopped him altogether. Either way, if he was in Storybrooke he may be hesitant to come back to Paige, uncertain if he was welcome. (Or he could be in another realm. Or he could have just decided that fatherhood didn't suit him and was avoiding Paige altogether. But Baelfire was trying not to think about that.) If that was the case, he may still be keeping an eye on his daughter. And the most obvious place to do that was at her school. Which is why he and Henry were staking out the playground in the middle of recess, trying to get a glance at Paige's elusive father.

"Bae, wait! Three o'clock! The compy is scoping out the nest at three o'clock!"

Bae jerked his head around in search of the "compy." He was at nine o'clock (and Baelfire really needed to teach Henry that particular skill while he taught Bae about these "velociraptors"). The man looked exactly as he had in the memory. He was gazing out to the playground, staring longingly at the blonde haired little girl in the distance (and honestly, even if Baelfire wasn't already looking for this man he'd still have to stop him. Strange men staring at small children while hidden in the shadows was a universal "not good" sign no matter what realm you were in). Bae began to slowly make his way towards the man. Unfortunately, Jefferson chose that exact moment to glance in his direction. Immediately, he broke out into a run in the opposite direction.

Baelfire groaned as began to follow the man. Really, he was not getting paid enough for this. He tracked the man through the twisting streets of the town, not falling behind or catching up.

Then, Jefferson ran into the forest.

This was a mistake.

It was harder to run in a forest than you'd think. Nowadays, people made a big deal about jogging through forests. They spoke of communing with nature and how peaceful it was, all while tromping along on the nice, smooth path. Running in the _actual_ woods, with the rocks, branches, and roots that came out of nowhere and tripped you was much more difficult. Baelfire knew this from painful experience. He had, after all, spent several hundred years fleeing from deranged children through a jungle where literally everything was trying to kill him. Including the plants.

But, this had added effect at making him very good at running through a forest.

Baelfire crashed into the man at full tackle. This was probably one of those things Hopper would probably label as "unnecessary uses of force," but Baelfire didn't care. He had run from an officer of the law (a reluctant one, but an officer of the law nonetheless) and had ditched his kid. That was more than enough justification for Bae. He glared at the panting man sprawled out on the rocky ground.

"Hello Jefferson."

* * *

Honestly, the longer Bae spent on Neverland, the more he hated it. The Lost Boys unnerved him, Pan was just plain creepy, the whispers were getting louder, and the burn of the flame had settled into a dull throb, always reminding him of its presence.

And, most of all, Bae missed his family.

He didn't mean Hook or his Papa (well, he did actually miss them to, but he was trying not to admit it to himself). He meant the Darlings. His _real_ family.

Pan's little show back in the woods had been convincing, but it had been just that, a show. Meant to fool, but still an illusion. And Baelfire refused to fall for the illusion of family Pan had built on his twisted little island.

Love meant sacrifice. It meant trust. Bae loved the Darlings, and it had been his choice to sacrifice himself to keep them safe. And now, it would be his choice to trust that they had loved him back.

Bae tried not to think about what had happened when he disappeared from the nursery. What had Wendy told her parents? Did they think he had left? Run away? One thought he couldn't bear was the idea that the Darlings would only think of him as some ruffian, one that had broke into their perfect lives before fleeing back to the gutter, leaving their children broken hearted in his wake.

What if they instead thought some horrible ill had befallen him? What if they searched fruitlessly, never finding a clue about their missing ward? Bae couldn't bear that thought either. Mr and Mrs Darling had loved their children more than anything else in the world, Baelfire included. It would crush them to lose a child, and Bae had been trying to stop that by coming here in the first place.

What if they didn't think anything at all? What if they didn't know he was gone yet?

Baelfire had a hope, one that he didn't dare voice out loud. Wendy had spent several days in Neverland, but had returned by daybreak. What Baelfire wished for more than anything was that this happened regardless of how long you spent on the island. He wanted to fly back in the early morning rays, and see Wendy and the boys sleeping by the window, just as he had in what felt like an eternity ago. He wanted to hug Mr and Mrs Darling and pretend it was all a dream. That there was no Neverland. That Pan and his Lost Boys had never even existed. That he hadn't discovered that his father had killed his mother. That there had never been a Hook. There hadn't been someone Baelfire had dared to try to love, to almost consider becoming a family with, only to have been betrayed again. He could go back to his happy life in London, with his studies and games and _family._

 _Please, Gods let it all be a dream._

* * *

The man was glancing up, seeming to consider whether he'd be able to run again. "You wouldn't make it," Bae calmly stated.

Jefferson's eyes snapped towards him. "What seems to be the problem, Sheriff?"

Bae raised an eyebrow. "Do you want to start with the fact that you ran? Or we could discuss why your daughter hasn't seen you since before the Curse."

Jefferson winced. "Since when is my family life the affair of the Sheriff's Office?"

Baelfire fixed him with a piercing glare. "It became my affair when your daughter showed up to file a missing person's report. It appears you were never really missing at all. Just hiding," he said, his voice hard.

Jefferson glared right back as he clambered to his feet. "It's none of your business. Move out of my way," he said as he tried to brush past Baelfire.

Bae didn't move.

"Your daughter is looking for you," Bae pressed. "She misses you! And based on how you were watching that park, you miss her too. Why aren't you with her?"

"It's none of your business; move," Jefferson repeated.

"She's been posting signs all over town! She wants to be with you!"

"What if she doesn't?" Jefferson snapped. He stared at Baelfire, breathing heavily. "What if she never wants to see me again?" he asked, suddenly quiet. "What if she hates me for not being there? After all, I left her. What if she takes one look at me and decides she never wants to see me again?"

Baelfire stared at him. "It doesn't matter."

Jefferson looked at him in surprise.

"It doesn't matter," Bae repeated. "Because that's _her_ choice. Not yours. And right now, she's choosing to see you again, and you're letting her down again by avoiding her. You're _hurting her_ by not seeing her. She's miserable! She shows up at the diner early every morning, hoping for news about a father that's too much of a coward to even let her know he's alive!"

Jefferson didn't respond, and suddenly Baelfire had had enough. He had had enough of abandoned kids, enough of fathers who were too big of a _coward_ to bother with parenthood. Henry or Ruby or _anyone else_ would have been a better choice to handle this; Bae couldn't anymore. "You know what? Forget it," he hissed, turning around and walking away. Then, he stopped. He spun around and looked at Jefferson; he had one more thing to say. "I can't make you be a father," he called. "No one can. And right now, Paige wants you to be one. But it's not going to always be like that. Sooner or later, she won't care anymore. She'll stop wondering why you never came back, because in the end, the why doesn't matter. Knowing why won't change the fact that you left her. And when that happens, you'll lose her. Forever."

Then Baelfire turned around and walked out of the forest, the crunch of the leaves the only sound answering him.

* * *

The pawn shop was deceptively innocent, Baelfire decided. No one would ever suspect that it was the business of the Dark One.

Seeing Jefferson had awakened old, bitter questions in Bae. Namely, why had his father gone back on their deal? Why hadn't Baelfire been enough?

And the only person who had that answer was Rumplestiltskin.

While he was living on the streets, he would have given anything just to speak with his father one last time. To find out what was so _freaking special_ about that dagger that his Papa had chosen it over him.

And that really had been the part that hurt the most about his father's betrayal. His Papa had chosen an _inanimate object_ over his own son. He had chosen the Dark One's blade and all the power that came with it.

And he hadn't chosen Bae.

Baelfire had chosen his Papa. He had _always_ chosen his Papa. When the neighboring boys had insulted the Village Coward, Baelfire had refused to stand for it. He came home black and blue over and over again because he had decided to defend his Papa's honor. And every single time, he had tried to hide his wounds so that his father wouldn't feel guilty.

When his father had asked Bae for help retrieving the dagger, he had done it. He had helped set the fire instead of going to war, because despite believing that he could fight like everyone else, he loved his Papa too much to hurt him.

Now, he wished the gods had struck him down before he had lit a single piece of straw.

After the Dark One took over the sweet, gentle man that used to be his father, Bae still chose him. He had been telling the truth that night at the Piper's bonfire. He would have chosen his father.

And in the end, it was choosing his father that had damned him. Baelfire had chosen to leave the Enchanted Forest. If he couldn't be with his Papa in a land with magic, then he would go to one without magic. If he had to choose between his father and magic, he would choose his father every time.

Apparently his father hadn't felt the same way.

And now, once again, Baelfire wanted to know why.

For a while, he had convinced himself he didn't care. Why his father had left him didn't change the fact that he _did,_ or at least so Baelfire had told now there was whole new questions Bae had to contend with.

Why had his father made the Curse?

Bae suspected _(knew)_ that it was because of him, but he wanted confirmation. He wanted his father to look him in the eye and tell him that all the suffering that had happened in the Curse was because of Baelfire and that cursed magic bean.

Then, he wanted to punch his father in the face.

Okay, he (probably) wasn't going to punch his Papa in the face. But he was still livid at him.

Baelfire had wanted to leave the Enchanted Forest because he hated how his Papa always hurt people there. And his father had decided to try and fix this by hurting the _entire_ Enchanted Forest.

Really, really not going to work.

Baelfire realized he probably looked like an idiot, staring stupidly at a pawn shop for at least fifteen minutes. Gathering his courage, he walked across the street and paused at the door. Did he really want to do this?

Yes, he did.

The door chimed as Bae pushed it open.

He went inside.

* * *

Pan was watching him. He was always watching him. At the moment he was staring intently at Bae while seated on a log, fingering his pipes as he thought. He seemed to be trying to solve the realm's greatest puzzle, and Baelfire was a particularly difficult piece.

The boy had always seemed… _strange_ to Baelfire. Like he was familiar and foreign all at once. And it seemed that Baelfire himself was strange to the rest of the Lost Boys. They always cast strange looks towards him, as if he was some kind of rare, unusual creature. They weren't scared necessarily, just… uncertain.

Bae had to physically restrain himself from shaking his head in frustration. Ever since Pan's _discussion_ with him, things had gotten worse. The whispers hadn't stopped, the burning had gotten more agitated, and now it felt like he had forgotten something. Something important. But every time he tried to touch the thought, it slipped out of his grasp.

"Baelfire," Pan called as he rose into standing position. "Care for a Game?"

"I never really cared much for games," he called back, gazing at Pan in suspicion. "No one ever seemed to play by the rules."

Pan smiled at him, a sick, twisted grin. "You'll like this one then. On my island, everyone abides by the rules. If they don't, they have to answer to me."

"What is the game?" Baelfire didn't like this. Everything seemed to be moves and countermoves with this boy, a part of some game no one ever realized they were playing.

"We call it Battle," he replied. He was staring at Baelfire in anticipation, and he had a feeling that whatever the boy said next, Bae wouldn't like it. "And only a coward flees from a battle, right Baelfire?"

Bae didn't rise to the bait. He just gazed at the Piper cooly as his stomach twisted in anger. "And would I be playing against you?"

Pan smirked, amused. "You're not quite ready for that. Samuel! Front and center!"

A tall, thin boy with a nasty scar around his throat jumped to his feet. Pan glanced at him. "Why don't you help show Baelfire the Game?"

The boy gave a dangerous smile, and Bae's stomach clenched. "How do you play?"

"The rules of the Game are very simple," Pan replied as he crouched to retrieve a stick from the ground. "Catch."

When the stick landed in his hand, it transformed into a long, gleaming sword. A long, gleaming, _sharp_ sword. Baelfire furrowed his eyebrows. "This is real."

"That's what makes the Game interesting. The object of this Game is to stop your opponent. Now, I did promise you you did not have to worry about rule breakers? Well, the only rule is: there are no rules. Begin!"

Bae barely managed to raise his sword to block the first strike. He was in no way prepared for this. The closest thing he had ever had to this was play fighting with sticks in the woods, and after his father became the Dark One no one was very interested in playing with him. He stumbled backwards, trying to block each thrust from the much larger and more experienced boy.

He jumped back to avoid the blade that whistled past his throat. Clumsily, he tried to counter attack. Samuel knocked the sword from his hand with a laugh. Baelfire stood before him, unarmed, as the rest of the Lost Boys jeered and shouted at him.

Pan only watched.

He had lost the game. He was unarmed in a short, embarrassing match. Samuel had one, just as Pan had probably intended him to from the beginning.

But Samuel did not stop fighting.

Baelfire only barely managed to dodge an unexpected swipe of the blade. Over and over again, Samuel attacked, and Baelfire leapt aside.

"The Game's not over yet, Bae," Pan called, his tone unreadable.

Glancing aside for an escape, Bae saw nothing. They were barred in on all sides by the Lost Boys; there was no way out.

Then, he had an idea.

He broke through the crowd, with Samuel close behind. There, stuck in a log, was a short, dull blade. He had seen one of the Lost Boys whittling with it earlier, complaining that he had to sharpen it yet again. Hopefully it would be sharp enough for the task Bae had in mind. He yanked it out of the log and spun around, grasping it with both hands as he pointed it towards Samuel.

The boy laughed. "What are you going to do with _that?"_ he sneered.

Bae slowly backed away, not taking his eyes off the Lost Boy.

"No, really," the teen continued. "What are you going to do with a pathetic little blade like that? Poke me with it?"

"I had other things in mind." With those words, Bae reached the tree line. Quickly, he spun around, swinging the small blade towards the trunk of the nearest tree, severing the rope attached to it. This particular tree housed many of the supplies for the Lost Boy's camp. They had strung it up in the trees to protect it from animals.

And Samuel was standing under the bag of supplies.

The heavy sack clipped his opponent on its journey towards the ground. The Lost Boy tumbled to the earth with it, and that was enough for Bae. He darted forward and grabbed Samuel's sword, turning it on its owner.

"The game's over," Bae gasped, daring Samuel to disagree. "It's over."

"Not quite," Pan cut in, gliding over to the quarrel with a smug look on his face. "Keep going, Baelfire."

Bae briefly darted his eyes to the boy before focusing again on his fallen opponent. "What are you talking about? He's unarmed. The game is done."

"The Game isn't over until I say it is. And I say that it ends when you draw blood."

Bae hesitated. Pan pressed harder. "Come on Bae. You're not a coward who refuses to fight, are you? Are you just. Like. Him?"

Baelfire stiffened at the mention of his father. His father hadn't fought, that was true. It was something that had haunted him his entire life. He always had to do twice as much, work twice as hard, just to get half as much as everyone else. All because his father had been a coward. And he always had to ask himself the same question.

Was he a coward?

No, he wasn't.

Bae strengthened his resolve and raised the sword.

The blade fell.

And landed at Pan's feet.

"It's not bravery to strike at an unarmed opponent," he said, his voice quiet but firm. The game is over."

All the Lost Boys were silent, looking between the Piper and the not-quite-a-Lost-Boy. Bae pushed past the mage. Peter Pan grabbed his arm in a bruising grip.

For an eternity, they stared at each other, testing one another's resolve.

Baelfire tugged his arm free and walked out of the camp.

Pan watched him leave.

* * *

The last thing Rumplestiltskin wanted to do was deal with yet another whining citizen. His dealings as Dark One seemed to leave them with the impression that that was his sole purpose in life. They were wrong. He had only one purpose anymore.

Finding Bae.

He had dedicated over a hundred years to achieving that purpose. And now, _finally_ it was almost within his grasp.

Keyword being almost.

He should have never forgotten the price of magic. Well, he hadn't _forgotten,_ per say, but he had forgotten how it could apply to him as well. He had never even imagined that bringing magic to this realm could have further severed him from his son. Now, he couldn't leave this damned town. Not without forgetting about the Enchanted Forest, about Rumpelstiltskin, about _Bae._

For so long, he had directed the price of magic upon others. Need a magical cure? He could give it to you, but the price would be your prize cow. Need to save your farm? It will cost you your first born.

And for just as long, he had heard them cry that _the price was too high._

They were ignorant fools. They didn't know the _meaning_ of a high price. Rumplestiltskin did. After all, he had paid the highest price for his magic.

He had paid his son.

He hadn't meant to. He had become the Dark One to _save_ his son, not lose him. _Nothing_ could have persuaded him to part with Baelfire.

Until a moment of blind panic, of _cowardice,_ made him do exactly that.

And ever since that moment _everything_ he did was to get him back. If he made a deal, it was to build up his reputation, or set up the correct circumstances, so that the _right_ person would come to him. And when they came, it was to deal. And that deal would pull the threads of Fate, and send them all spinning and spinning down the path that would lead him to his son.

Yes, he had committed atrocities. Yes, he had done so many bad things that his heart bled black. Yes, Baelfire would have been horrified by everything he had done.

But none of that mattered (well, the last one did matter, but he'd figure that one out. He figures _everything_ out, eventually).

 _Because he would get him back._

And when he did… Well, he still wasn't sure. _Somehow,_ he'd get Bae to forgive him. _Somehow,_ he'd earn back his son. He'd show Bae that he could be brave, do the right thing, _anything,_ if that's what it took to get his son back.

And then they would be a family. Him and Bae and Belle.

He just had to figure out how.

He was in the process of trying to do just that when his bell rang, signaling a customer, or, more likely, another townsperson coming to whine to him about their missing property (which he may or may not possess).

He sighed and grabbed his cane. As he made his way out to the front of the shop he called (in an only slightly annoyed tone), "Yes, how can I help you?"

The shop was empty.

* * *

Baelfire stood outside the school, trying not to think about how big of a mistake he had almost made.

 _How could he have forgotten?_

His father was a manipulator. He was cruel and sadistic. And he _never_ listened when Baelfire had told him to stop.

No, wait, he was wrong. The _Dark One_ was like that. His father had been a kind, gentle man who Baelfire had loved. His father would have never done the things the Dark One did.

His father was dead. The Dark One had killed him.

And Bae had almost made the mistake of inviting his father's murderer back into his life.

It was the ball that had brought him back to his senses. The stupid leather ball that had cost a man his life. (And Baelfire tried very hard not to listen to the voice that whispered that it wasn't the ball, but _Bae_ that had cost the man his life.)

(No, Papa, no. _Please_ Papa, don't. _Papa! Papa!)_

 _(Squish.)_

(Stupid Bae. Should have tried harder, should have been better, should have should have should have…. too late, he already _failed.)_

That ball made Baelfire remember just what exactly his father had been like (not that Bae ever really had forgotten). Made him remember just what exactly his father had _done._ And he knew that if his father ever knew where he was he wouldn't let him leave again.

And he almost brought that man back into his life.

He almost brought him into _Henry's_ life.

And that was one thing he could never, ever do. Not after everything that had happened.

(No, Papa, no. _Please_ Papa, don't. _Papa! Papa!)_

 _(Squish.)_

And so he had turned around and walked back out the door, then had his magic take him as far away as possible. Then, he spent the rest of the time until he had to pick up Henry trying very, very hard to forget about what he almost did.

He was failing miserably at it.

There was still half an hour until the school let out, but Bae had come anyways. He couldn't be alone with his thoughts anymore. He needed to see Henry, make sure he was safe.

Of course, coming hadn't made the school day end any faster. It just meant he got to be anxious in a whole new location.

Someone walked up on his left, and Baelfire had to restrain himself to keep from jumping. He was too high strung, too on edge. Trying to appear nonchalant, he glanced at the newcomer.

It was Jefferson.

To put it simply, he looked like he was going to be sick. He was glancing between Baelfire and the school door anxiously, his hands clenched so tightly his knuckles had turned white. He gave a short nod to Bae and glued his gaze to the double doors, twisting the edge of his shirt in his hands.

Baelfire smiled.

Exactly thirty-one minutes later, the doors opened and a flock of children streamed from the entrance. Bae searched through the crowd, trying to pick out Henry.

He was in the back, showing Paige something in his book.

Jefferson must have seen them the same time as he did, because he cleared his throat and called out, "Grace!"

Grace looked up. She looked stunned, then hopeful, then so, _so_ happy. "Papa!" she cried, throwing herself in his arms. "I knew you'd find me!"

Baelfire watched it all with a bittersweet smile. He was glad for Paige (Grace?) and her father, glad they got their Happily Ever After.

He just couldn't help but be bitter that he'd never get the same with _his_ Papa. There was far too much bad blood for that.

"Hey," Henry said as he ran up to Bae. They watched as Jefferson picked up his daughter and carried her away. "You did it."

Bae glanced at Henry with a smile. "You were the one that decided to help Paige. You were the one that spotted Jefferson. All I did was tackle the guy. I think it'd be more accurate to say _you_ did it."

Henry rolled his eyes, pleased and embarrassed all at once. " _We_ did it, then."

Bae could live with that compromise. "So, how was school?" he asked as they began to walk off.

He may never get some kind of fairytale reunion with his Papa. He may always secretly feel like some kind of screwed up, unwanted little Lost Boy. But he had Henry.

And that was enough.

"Did you really tackle that guy?"

Baelfire laughed.

* * *

Baelfire tromped through the woods, trying to ignore the frantic _beat beat beat_ of his heart.

He had just rebelled against Peter Pan. He had disobeyed the mage in front of all of his Lost Boys.

Baelfire had seen his Papa kill people for much, much less.

What made it worse was that his Papa had been _scared_ of the Piper, scared of what he was capable of. And that did not bode well for Bae.

It didn't matter. He had made his decision. He was not a coward, would _never_ be a coward, not like Hook and his Papa and _so many others._ Bae wouldn't let himself become that.

The whispers had gotten worse.

They were arguing now, in a language Bae didn't understand. It sounded like two voices, one airy and innocent, like a child, and one deep and dark and _ancient._

Frustrated, Bae shouted, "What do you want?"

The whispers stopped.

Then, they started again, but only the voice of the child. It was urging him onwards, beckoning him deeper into to forest.

Bae followed.

It probably wasn't the smartest decision he had ever made, but he needed to do _something._ Everything was spiraling out of control. The whispers were worse, the you've-forgotten-something nag stronger, and the flame in his chest hotter than ever. At least following the mysterious voice was better than nothing.

The deeper he went into the forest, the louder the voice became, and the more worried Baelfire was. He was about to turn back, convinced he had made a horrible mistake, when the trees thinned, and he was standing on the edge of a cliff.

It was a quite impressive view of Neverland's glistening harbor, but Baelfire couldn't enjoy it. The cliff also happened to give a rather spectacular view of a certain _pirate's_ ship.

"Great," he muttered as he turned away. "Even my own delusions are reminding me of being abandoned."

The child's voice became more urgent, seemingly saying, _Look look look._

Sighing Baelfire turned back around and looked at the ship. "Okay, what?" he asked, raising his arms helplessly. "I see the ship. What now?"

The whispers built, strange words flowing over each other, twisting together, before suddenly stopping.

And Baelfire remembered.

The nagging thought that he had forgotten something disappeared, and a realization rushed through his brain, memories flooding through him like water from a broken dam.

Pan had lied.

He had said there was no way to leave Neverland. He lied.

While he had still been on the ship, he had spoken with Hook often. And once, Hook had mentioned he had been to Neverland before, but left and destroyed the path to the realm, only to come back years later through a different method.

There was a way to leave Neverland.

Bae just had to find it.

* * *

 **Finally done! Believe it or not, this chapter was supposed to be a lot longer, but once I passed thirty pages I realized I had to split it up into two. Sorry folks! On the upside, that second chapter should be shorter and therefore the update will be sooner. Hopefully.**

 **I hope I did Pan alright. I had a lot of trouble writing his dialogue.**

 **Also, if anyone who can figure out what the "flame" and/or whispers are, then they get a shout out! Start guessing, people!**

 **Okay, I'm totally evil for making it look like Rumple and Bae were about to reunite, then not doing it. Don't worry, I have something special planned for that.**

 **I'm going to try and get this up tonight, because I probably won't have time tomorrow, so I won't be able to proof read this chapter. If I have any major mistakes that I fix, I'll let you know next chapter. Thanks for reading!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Not Actually A Chapter:** In Which This Author Apologizes To You All And Begs For Forgiveness

I'm going to come out and say that I hate it when authors do this. One hundred percent can't stand it. Which is probably why I'm so surprised that I'm doing it.

Yes, you have guessed it, this story is going on hiatus. I find that inspiration has withered and died. Mainly, I think it's due to the fact that Once is on hiatus. When it's on, usually all I can think about is Once. That is when the imagination gets active. Now, however, I'm just not all that inspired. While I have the plot of the story in my mind, I'm having trouble getting it down on paper. I actually have the most recent chapter half finished. It's sitting in my docs drive, quite literally stopped mid sentence. The characters have become harder and harder to write, and I keep having to pull up YouTube videos of them to remember how they act. And frankly, I think the story is suffering from lack of inspiration. The chapters have become cluttered in my mind, and I'm never quite happy with how the most recent installments come out.

However, I have also stated that I hate when authors do this. That being said, I am not about to wait until Once starts back up to continue this story. I'm going to rewatch the first few seasons and come back, hopefully reinspired. I have set an alarm on my phone for one month from now. By that time, I will have posted a new chapter. Hopefully, it will have been much sooner, but that is the deadline I have set for myself. If there has not been a chapter by then, assume I have been struck by lightning, or a bus, or a goat, or something equally as tragic.

Yours repentantly,

Sparked To Life


	8. Chapter 8

**Thanks to all the follows, favorites, and reviews! To answer your questions:**

Syed: **While Henry is not Rumple's grandson, he is the kid his son's entire world revolves around. Bae adores Henry, and Rumple's trying to reconcile with Baelfire. Murdering the kid that his son has basically adopted as a younger brother is a horrible way to do that. So he's going to be struggling with that in the story, it's part of his character development. Yes, Henry is the Truest Believer. Sorry, the only way Bae will be growing up is through the natural process. While it would certainly be interesting if he was a love interest of Regina's I don't think I'd be able to write that. Robin will still be her love interest. Thanks for all your great suggestions!**

Catspook: **I'm glad you liked the almost reunion. About Merlin: I'm going to just say I hated season five. Seriously, I figured out the first Dark One was the lost love of Merlin the first episode. Clichéd plot twists left and right. So of course I changed it. Same basic plot line, but the circumstances have changed. The reason** _ **why**_ **these circumstances have changed are a long way off (as in: when this fic finally hits season 5). The only thing I'll say is: Baelfire was in the Enchanted Forest for six months before the Curse. His life was in no way boring.**

 **One last quick thing: this chapter takes place the same day as the last chapter. It was originally supposed to be a part of chapter six, but that was over thirty pages long without this part even having been written yet, so I decided to split it into two chapters. Only the flashbacks take place on a different day.**

* * *

 **Of Broken Families and Shattered Souls**

 **Chapter Eight:** In Which Baelfire, Defeater of Wraiths and Magician Extraordinaire, Gets into a Territory War with Spiders… And Loses

In all his years of living on Neverland, Baelfire had never really gotten used to dodging arrows.

You'd think he would have, considering the Lost Boys' fondness for them, but no. He had always hated ducking from the sharp little projectiles, feeling them breeze past his skin. Even when he caught them, it was horrible. The shaft sliced into his skin, tearing it open from the sudden change in velocity. He had started wearing rough, homemade leather gloves, but it was hard to catch arrows when there were dozens of them whizzing around your head.

An arrow slammed into a tree as he sprinted past. This tree happened to be right next to his head. Baelfire ran faster.

He wished he could poof away. He wanted to disappear in a gust of magic and end up far, far away from Pan and his hounds of war. Unfortunately, he could feel Pan's enchantments, snaking through the ground and entangling with Neverland herself. If Baelfire used magic to transport himself away, Pan would know. He'd be able to follow him wherever he went, rendering his escape pointless. Pan _couldn't,_ however, track him if he escaped on foot.

The only problem with that was the fact that every single Lost Boy was chasing him.

And the plan he had was really, really not his best.

Baelfire saw a break in the tree line ahead of him and ran faster to reach it. Jumping over a stray log, he broke out of the woods and made his way towards the cliff before him.

He could hear the Lost Boys behind him, clamoring and howling as they pursued him. As Baelfire neared the edge of the precipice, he did not slow his flight.

He jumped.

* * *

"Are you sure we can do this without burning down the apartment?" Henry asked, skeptical.

"Of course I am! You know, kind of," Bae reassured.

Henry shot him a look. "Do you even know how to cook?"

"I can shoot, skin, and roast a wild boar over a campfire. That has to count for something."

"When it comes to cooking spaghetti, I don't think it counts for anything."

Bailey shrugged. "It can't be that hard."

It was that hard.

The main problem was that neither of them knew how to cook. While Bailey was, apparently, accomplished at preparing wild game over an open flame, he had never had the chance to cook on an actual stove. Henry, meanwhile, hadn't been allowed to go near the kitchen range; his mother had feared he'd burn the house down.

Which meant that they had to learn through experimentation. Hopefully, they wouldn't give themselves food poisoning in the process.

It probably would have been easier to go to Granny's, Henry reflected. However, they had been in agreement that they couldn't eat hamburgers from the diner for the rest of their natural lives. They had to learn to cook for themselves.

How that led to the two of them staring up at the ceiling, Henry wasn't entirely sure.

Bae leaned over to him. "Why does the pasta sticking to the roof mean it's done?"

"Uh… I'm not sure. I saw it in a movie. I'll explain later," Henry added at Bailey's questioning look. They had slowly been finding gaps in his fake memories in the strangest of places. Bae couldn't figure out a cell phone, yet could operate a computer. He could quote Shakespeare, but couldn't remember what a movie was. Henry had taken it upon himself to fill in these gaps.

He would definitely start with teaching Bae dinosaurs. (It was important to start at the beginning, right? Prehistory was the start of it all in this realm. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that dinosaurs were really, really cool.)

Bae nodded thoughtfully. Then, he leaned over once more. "How is it supposed to get down from the ceiling?"

Henry shrugged. "Maybe it falls down?"

"I thought the entire point of tossing it up there in the first place was to see if it _wouldn't_ fall down."

"It can't stay up there forever, can it? Either way, it's pretty safe to say the pasta is done cooking." Grabbing a rag, Henry moved the pot of (only slightly burnt) pasta off the hot stovetop.

Glancing up at Bae, he sighed. "What is it?"

Bailey looked up from the sauce he was stirring. "What do you mean?"

Henry rolled his eyes. "You've been acting weird all night. Spill."

"I talked to your mom today. She, uh, is a bit more serious about changing than I thought. She wants me to teach her light magic."

A brilliant, beaming smile fixed itself on Henry's face. He _knew_ his mom could do it! "What did you tell her?"

"I told her to come over at seven to practice- whoa!" Bae stumbled backwards as Henry launched himself at the mage and tackled him in a hug. "Careful, kid! Hot stove here!"

Henry blushed. "Sorry. It's just… You're really going to help her?"

Bae looked at him in trepidation. "Yeah but… Don't get your hopes up, Henry. Sometimes… Sometimes people let us down. I don't want to see you get hurt."

Henry shook his head stubbornly. "My mom _won't_ let me down. I believe in her."

Bae looked at him sadly. He opened his mouth, then closed it again. He sighed and turned back to the saucepan.

A knock sounded at the door. "I'll get it!" Henry said, excited. Could it be his mom? It wasn't seven yet, but she could be early, right?

"Oh. Hi, Archie," Henry said, somewhat disappointed. "What are you doing here?"

The psychiatrist looked at Henry fondly. "I said I would be giving you both random checkups to make sure everything was alright. Can I come in?"

Dr Hopper glanced around the living room searchingly, seemingly checking for any signs of ill treatment. "Hello, Bailey. What is it you boys are cooking?"

"Spaghetti," Henry chimed in. "Want some?"

The conscience shook his head. "I didn't know you two knew how to cook,"

"Neither did we," muttered Bae as he turned around to grab some plates.

Hopper seemed to sense something was amiss. "Is everything alright? You both seem upset."

Henry smiled as he shook his head. "Everything's great. My mom wants to learn light magic. Bae doesn't think she can do it yet, that's all."

"I see," he mused, his gravely tone searching. "So Bailey, you don't think that it's a good idea for Regina to learn light magic?"

The boy sighed. "I didn't say that. It's more of a matter on whether she _can_ do it. This is going to be a lot harder than everyone thinks it will be. I just don't want to set ourselves up for disappointment, that's all."

After that, Henry tuned out the conversation as it turned to Bae's school work with Miss Nolan. Henry hadn't expected Bae to be optimistic about their chances. He tended to be a lot more jaded than Henry on many subjects. But that didn't matter. He'd believe when he saw how hard his mom would work at it, Henry knew it.

* * *

"Are you sure there are candles in here?" Bae yelled from upstairs. "This storage closet seems to only have spiders and old mops."

"I'm pretty sure that's where Miss Blanchard kept them," Henry yelled back. "I'll try down here."

The closer it got to seven o'clock, the more excited Henry became. In preparation for the lesson, Bailey had asked if they had any candles. He wasn't all that sure, but apparently they couldn't be magicked into existence. When he had asked, Bae had said something complicated and warlocky about different layers of magical interference influencing the outcome of the lesson, and Henry had resigned himself to having to learn the theoretical side of magic if he ever stood any chance of figuring out what Bailey was saying.

Henry walked into the kitchen and began tugging open cabinet doors in search of candles. Where had his grandma kept them? He was fairly certain she had bought quite a bit on Miner's Day; they couldn't all be gone by now. Alarmed, Henry slammed the door shut when he heard a shout (scream) from upstairs. "Are you okay?"

"I think I may have started a territory war with some incredibly vicious spiders!"

Henry snorted and tried to hold in a laugh. Bailey, who possessed nerves of steel when it came to rampaging magic users and armed bandits, was apparently being terrorized by the spiders living in his grandma's closet. "Do you need me to come protect you?" he teased.

Bae was not amused. "These things are crazy! They could be poisonous! I could be in mortal danger right now!"

Openly laughing now, Henry walked back into the kitchen. On his way towards the cabinets, he bumped into table, knocking off Bae's pack from its perch. He bent to pick it up, only to pause. What did Bae even keep in this thing? He told himself it was none of his business, and that he should just put it back and respect his friend's privacy, but it was _hard._ Bailey was so _secretive_ about _everything!_ He couldn't help but be curious.

Henry admonished himself as he picked up the coarse leather bag. Bae had done nothing but help him; he shouldn't be thinking about snooping through his things. But, as he turned over the bag, he paused. The tie keeping the top closed had come loose, and the cover was slightly askew. If the bag was already open, and Henry just so happened to see what was inside, that wasn't his fault, was it?And besides, Bae hadn't exactly forbidden Henry from looking in his bag. He had even shown him some of the contents. Surely, he wouldn't care if Henry saw a glimpse of what was on top, would he? Biting his lip, Henry glanced over his shoulder at the stairs. Bae wasn't there; he was probably still locked in combat with ferocious arachnids. Before he could stop himself, he flipped open the pack.

Really, there wasn't all that much that Henry could see. He caught sight of a few rocks, strange powders, and a shell. There was nothing that interesting or informative. He was about to close it again when he saw a flash of gold. Curious, he pushed aside some of the objects and pulled out the culprit. It was a piece of leather, embroidered with gold thread. Henry wasn't even all that sure what it was for. Frowning, he looked closer at the inscription. In small, flowing script it read:

 _Hero of Neverland_

 _A_

That raised more questions than answers. Had Bae been in Neverland all those years? What did it mean "hero"of Neverland? What was A? Was A a person? Was Bailey A? Henry was so preoccupied with the scrap of leather, he didn't notice Bae descending the stairs. He did, however, notice when the boy began to speak.

"I hope you appreciate the life-threatening lengths I am going to for this lesson, Henry. I'm pretty sure those spiders have sworn revenge," Bae said, wiping the cobwebs off the candle. He glanced up just in time to see Henry spin around, hiding the material behind his back. "What's going on?" he asked suspiciously.

"Nothing," Henry said quickly. "Where'd you find the candles?"

"In the cabinet. What's behind your back?"

"It's nothing!"

Bae gave Henry the _look._ The you're-not-getting-away-with-this-but-nice-try look. "Sorry," he muttered. "I didn't mean to snoop in your bag. It fell over and I couldn't resist."

Bae snorted. "I gathered that from my open pack. Find anything interesting?"

Henry repentantly held out the leather strap. "Did you live in Neverland all those years? Is that why you never aged? Bae?" Henry stared at the boy, worried. At the appearance of the scrap he had stiffened and gone chalk white. With a slightly shaking hand, Bae reached out and took the leather piece from Henry. Heavily, he sat down at the table, staring at the deceptively innocent object.

"Oh," he said in a strangled voice. He cleared his throat and repeated, "Oh. I, uh, was not expecting to see that."

Henry looked at Bae in trepidation. _Nothing_ had ever gotten this big of a reaction from the boy. He had always had a calm facade on, sculpted from years of practice. What was so important about a scrap piece that it warranted that kind of reaction? "Who was A?"

Bae's head snapped up so fast Henry was surprised he didn't get whiplash. "What?"

He gestured helplessly towards the material. "It's signed A. Did you know A on Neverland?"

"I never said I was in Neverland."

"But it _says_ Neverland on the piece of leather. What else could it mean? Are you Peter Pan? Is that why you're using your curse name?"

Bailey's entire countenance went stiff. "Henry…. I know you don't know any better, but please, never, _ever_ compare me to that demon again. I am _nothing_ like _Peter Pan,"_ he said, spitting out the name like a curse.

"I… I don't understand… I thought Peter Pan was a hero."

"No," Bae said, an urgent fire in his eyes. "Whatever you've heard about him is wrong. Peter Pan is the most vile creature that ever stepped foot on Neverland. I spent hundreds of years fighting him."

"He was a villain? So… You were a hero there. That's why A put it on the leather."

Bae slumped in his seat, staring at the material and looking so, so _broken._ "There is no such thing as heroes on Neverland," he whispered. "He was wrong about me. I was no hero."

"But…" Henry trailed off, unsure of what to say. Bae was a hero, he _knew_ it. He knew it the same way he had known that the Curse was real, that they would get his family back, and that his mom could change. Henry _believed_ it was true.

Abruptly, Bae stood up, swiping at his eyes. He had been _crying_ , Henry realized. He had made Bae _cry._ He could have never even imagined Bae crying! The boy always seemed so put together, so sure. "I should go finish preparing for your mom's lesson," he choked out. "She'll be here soon."

Then, he spun on his heel and walked away, clutching that small, innocent piece of leather.

* * *

Even with the oxygen deprivation, Baelfire could realize that this was not his finest moment.

He had hit his head on the way down. It was spinning and likely bleeding, inhibiting any ability he may have to perform a life-saving spell. Because not only was he concussed, he was also stuck underwater. His pant leg had caught on something in the murky depths, preventing him from surfacing.

 _I need air,_ his mind screamed.

Bae thrashed in the water, not caring about just what he may be attracting.

His vision blurred.

Baelfire saw a flash of red, and there was a tug on his leg.

Then, nothing.

* * *

Bae tried to keep his hands from shaking as he walked away. He told himself that he was overreacting, that it was just a stupid scrap of leather and it shouldn't bother him this much. That he was only scaring Henry and he needed to get a handle on himself _now._

Only, he couldn't.

Because it _wasn't_ nothing. It wasn't a stupid scrap of leather. It was his most prized possession, the only thing he had left from…

No. Stop. For the sake of his sanity, he couldn't go there.

Baelfire set the candle up on the table; Regina would be here soon. Despite Henry's insistence, he didn't have high hopes for this lesson. Honestly, all he anticipated was a few hours of subtle (or not so subtle) barbs and snarky comebacks before leaving to do the final enchanting of the mirror. Still, he had to at least _try,_ for Henry.

Baelfire was well aware that there was once upon a time that he wouldn't have needed Henry as incentive to help Regina give up dark magic; he would have done it automatically, glad someone was trying to change.

But that was before. Before his father had dropped him down a hole to another realm, shattering Baelfire's young, innocent heart. Before he had spent six months on the streets of London, fleeing from workhouses and learning just how immoral and vile people could be. Before he found a family, one that he loved and who loved _him,_ only to loose them to magic. Before he found Hook, and thought that maybe he had lost his family only to gain a new one, but instead was _sold_ to ensure the pirate captain's _safety._ Before _hundreds of years_ of being hunted by some of the most ruthless people he had ever met. Before escaping, only to be trapped for _twenty eight years_ in a _mental asylum._

Before Baelfire had lost all faith in Happily Ever After.

And now there was Henry. Good, kind Henry who still believed in things like heroes and happy endings. Who believed in _him._

It was a recipe for disaster if Bae ever saw one.

Suddenly, a horrible thought occurred to him. What happened once Henry's family got back? What happened when he was no longer reliant on Bae, and realized that Baelfire was just a broken little Lost Boy, one that he'd be so much better off far, far away from? That for all his heroics, Bae was just shattered glass in the vague shape of a boy, and there was no possible way to even find the pieces, let alone put him back together again, so he shouldn't waste his time trying? That he _needed_ to get far, far away from him, because Baelfire's luck was like a poison, one that spewed over absolutely everything he loved and killed it as painfully as possible?

A knock sounded at the door, and Bae went to answer it, trying to smother the fears churning in his stomach like acid. Regina was standing there, looking all for the world like she would much rather be doing anything else but this. Then, Henry's delighted, "Mom!" sounded behind him, and her face lit up, and for a moment, Bae could almost see a spinner turned Dark One, one that had once loved his son more than anything else in the world. He buried down the memories in the dark place in his mind that he kept all the things that hurt _too much_ to think about before turning towards Henry. The boy was staring at his mother, looking excited and happy and _so, so hopeful,_ so much more hopeful than Baelfire could even _dream_ of being anymore. And suddenly, he came to a bittersweet revelation.

They would find Henry's family. They would get them back from the Enchanted Forest, and then the Charmings could protect him. Henry would grow up safe and loved, and he would never loose that amazing kindness that Bae hadn't even realized _existed_ until it was staring at him in the face in the form of a stubborn eleven year old that was really too brave for his own good. Henry would have the family that he _deserved._

And as for Baelfire? He could go back to being alone.

After all, alone was what he was good at.

Alone was _safe._

And alone was all he could ever be.

* * *

When Baelfire woke up, he was in a cave.

This revelation caused much confusion to him originally. Namely, he was confused about the fact that he was not dead at the bottom of Mermaid Cove.

Then, he saw the mermaid, and became even more confused.

As a rule, the mermaids were allied with Pan. Baelfire had heard tales of a time before Pan, when Neverland was frequented by kind merpeople who brought tales of faraway lands and undersea castles to the children, but that time was long gone. Now, there was a colony of vicious, shrewish mermaids that took delight in drowning people who got too close. And they were more than happy to ally with Pan, as long as he allowed them to ruthlessly kill anyone stupid enough to get within arms reach.

But there was a mermaid in the cave with him. One that had seemed to save him instead of drown him.

So, either Baelfire had hit his head harder than he thought, or someone had left the "Evil Sea Harpy Club."

At first, Bae didn't say anything; he just looked at her. She was undeniably pretty, with her dark red hair and kind hazel eyes, but after spending hundreds of years on an island entirely populated by boys (and, recently, Tinkerbell, but she was more likely to stab you than anything else) Baelfire wasn't entirely certain what to do with that information. So instead he ignored it, and began to assess her threat level. She was sitting in the edge of a small pool of water that encompassed the opening of the cave. She wouldn't be able to get very far on land with that tail, so as long as he stayed out of arm's reach she wouldn't be able to do much to him. However, it was the underwater entrance to the cave, so if she was hostile he wouldn't be able to leave without a fight. Awkwardly, he cleared his throat. "Hello."

She said absolutely nothing, just stared at him. Slowly, she pointed a hand to her throat and shook her head.

She couldn't speak.

Well, that would make it a lot harder for him to figure out her motives behind rescuing him, but Baelfire was nothing if not flexible. "I suppose this is the best time to thank you for saving my life. I'd ask you your name, but that would be pretty useless, considering. So… Does your name start with an A?"

After slowly working his way through the alphabet, Baelfire came to discover that her name was Ariel. Unfortunately, that was all he knew about her.

He needed information, darn it!

Then, he had a vague memory of a mute maid, one that had been his only companion until his father cut her down without hesitation. While Honora had lived, Baelfire had always quietly bemoaned her lack of speech. Some days, he would have given _anything_ to have someone give a kind word to him, one that wasn't accompanied by the insane giggle that belied the madness of its owner. However, just because she couldn't speak didn't mean she couldn't _communicate._ Slowly, they had built together a crude language constructed of gestures and facial expressions. Maybe, if she had lived and Bae had stayed, they could have built something better, something elegant and flowing, something that was a language in its own right. They were both willing to put in the effort, after all. Bae was reveling in the fact that someone would actually acknowledge his existence with something other than fear (even though there was still some of that with her, it wasn't nearly as prevalent), and Honora was just glad that someone was trying to actually _communicate_ with her, instead of acting inconvenienced by her disability, as if it was her fault she couldn't speak.

Honora was gone; she had been dead for years. But Ariel was here, and she needed to speak.

Slowly, they managed to establish a basic vocabulary, even if most of their conversation was still pantomimed actions and exaggerated gestures. Then, Ariel shot him an inquisitive glance and mimed a figure jumping with her fingers.

"Why did I jump?" Bae guessed. At her confirmation, he responded, "You generally flee when people are shooting at you."

Another questioning look, then she drew her arms apart, echoing the position of someone shooting a bow.

"Why were they shooting at me? The Lost Boys and I don't get along that well."

Ariel glared at him, then gave him the this-is-difficult-enough-so-stop-dodging-the-bloody-question _look._ Baelfire yielded. It's not like she could tell anyone, and even if she could, Pan definitely knew what he had stolen. Grabbing his bag, he pulled out the object he risked his life for.

Ariel looked distinctly unimpressed. She was clearly thinking, _A coconut?!_

A smile barely touched the corners of the wizard's lips. "This one's special."

* * *

Henry was very excited to see his first real magic lesson. A few days ago, Henry had been forging his way through life, desperately trying to break the curse and make his birth mother believe in magic, and now, he was sitting at a table watching his insane asylum escapee best friend, who also happened to be a centuries old warlock, teach his ex-Evil Queen adoptive mother light magic before they went out to enchant mirrors so that they could rescue his fairytale family from the Enchanted Forest. How cool was that?

"Okay, Lesson One: Lighting the candle," Bae began. The boy didn't show any outward signs of what had happened earlier, and that worried Henry. He was _hurting,_ so why was he trying so hard to hide it? Henry was his friend; he could help him! Still, he was afraid to bring up the subject again. Who knew how Bailey would react to another reminder of that leather strip?

"I already know how to light a candle," his mother broke in, waving her hand lazily, setting the wick alight. "I'm not exactly a novice at this."

"You know how to light a candle with _dark_ magic. When it comes to light magic, you are very much a novice. However, this is a good opening for the first theoretical lesson. Henry," he said, turning towards the boy, "do you know the difference between light and dark magic?"

"The spells you use?" he guessed.

"Good try, but no. Magic is powered off of emotion; that's why dark magic is so damaging to the user. Dark magic needs things like hate, envy, and anger to work, and in doing so, it forces the user to dwell on those emotions. Light magic is the more positive scale of the emotional spectrum. It still demands a price, but it doesn't force the caster to focus on things that make them upset. The downside, however, is that on average it is less powerful than dark magic. While True Love is the most powerful of magicks of them all, idle happiness doesn't really match up against burning hate. It's one thing to have a lot of magical potential, it's another to actually be able to use it. The power of the spell corresponds directly with the intensity of the emotion. So if you really want to be a strong light magic user, you have to have something important to power it. Now, how do you tell if a spell was powered by light magic or dark magic?"

For a moment, Henry thought. Then, "The color? Your magic is a different color than my mom's."

Bae smiled. "That was actually the next theoretical lesson. Color is unique to the caster; it's got nothing to do with light or dark magic. Regina's magic is purple, and mine is gold, but that's just a characteristic of our individual magic. No, you can tell the type of magic used by the Echo it gives. Echoes are kind of like emotional residue. You can feel ghosts of the emotions used to power the spells if you focus."

Henry frowned, and concentrated on the tiny flame that his mother had conjured. Slowly, he became aware of faint impressions of… anger… pain… hate…

"What does your magic feel like?" Henry asked, looking at Bailey curiously.

Bae raised an eyebrow but complied, blowing out the candle before lighting it anew. The small fire sent out tiny waves of happiness, almost laughter, but something else too… It was tinged with sadness, almost bittersweet. Wistful.

"Right then," Bailey said, clearing his throat. "Back to practical." He turned towards Regina, who had watched the entire exchange with pained, desperate looks toward her son. "Try to light the candle with a positive emotion."

Henry had started the lesson out hopeful, but that quickly dwindled as the session wore on. His mother just glared at the candle at first, then softened her expression when she realized Henry was staring at her expectantly. However, she quickly became frustrated with the lack of results, and several times her anger spilled over, lighting a flame that radiated frustration. After the fourteenth time this happened (and yes, Henry had been counting), she slammed her hand on the table and snapped, "It's not working!"

Bae snorted. "I could tell."

Henry shot him a look. He was supposed to be teaching her, not letting loose snarky comments that only served to frustrate her further! She was trying! Bae, suitably chastised, spoke again. "You're trying too hard, Regina. You're lighting a candle, not a bonfire; you don't need the same level of power that you use to make fireballs. Don't try for some big, important emotion just yet. Instead, just try and find a memory that makes you happy. Have you ever had any fun pastimes? Hobbies? Anything that made you the slightest bit happy?"

His mom glared at the wizard, before biting out, "Horseback riding."

"You know how to horseback ride?" Henry cut in, excited. "That's so cool! Did you learn in the Enchanted Forest? Did you have your own horse?"

"I had a steed, Rocinante, ever since I was a child; he was amazing. When I was your age, I loved horseback riding more than anything else." Tentatively, Regina continued. "You know, Henry… I could teach you. How to horseback ride, that is. After all, you are a prince, and princes should know how to ride. It… It could be something we do together."

Henry thought for a long moment before answering. He wanted to do things with her again. He missed Chocolate Pancake Saturdays, Marvel movie marathons, and all those other things that his mother had done with him just because she loved him. Still… He couldn't forget all the bad things that happened, also. He couldn't forget the trips to the psychiatrist, the arguments, and all the secret whispered prayers at night that he had never told anyone about.

 _(Please, please,_ please _don't let me be crazy. I_ can't _be crazy, I_ know _I'm not crazy…)_

 _(...Then why does everyone say I am?)_

He couldn't forget the _loneliness_ of it all.

But wasn't she trying to change? Didn't this lesson prove it? How could she change if he didn't at least give her an incentive to? Could Henry do it? Could he let her back into his life? Slowly, he came to a decision.

He missed his mom.

Henry shot her a tentative smile. "I'd like that." And his mom smiled back, so relieved and happy and _hopeful._

Then, Bailey spoke again.

"We should get going. We need to enchant the mirrors soon."

Henry looked back, frowning. "Do we have time? We still have to finish the lesson."

Bae gave him a small smile, both happy and melancholy, and simply said, "The lesson's over," before he got up and left the table.

And then Henry saw the candle.

A small flame was flickering on the wick, and Henry _knew_ that his mother had put it there. And it was burning with emotion, sending out small rays of something that was most definitely _not_ dark.

Hope.

* * *

Baelfire got somewhat used to seeing Ariel over the next few months. They weren't friends; Bae didn't (couldn't) have friends anymore. Friends betrayed you and hurt you and died. He and Ariel were… associates. They spoke to one another for the sole sake of survival (or at least that's what he kept telling himself).

Their language improved with time. They practiced whenever they could, though that wasn't often. On Neverland, Baelfire was a dangerous frien - associate to have. If Ariel was seen with him, she could be punished by Pan.

Bae soon learned that Ariel was completely unsuited for Neverland life. While she was stubborn and brave, she was just too _pure_ for the island. She refused to join the other mermaids' psychotic festivities, but she also refused to leave. To the other merpeople, that made her an interloper, someone to be driven out. The only thing that seemed to make her fit in the realm was that she was _lost._ From what Baelfire could tell, she had stumbled upon the realm after fleeing from heartbreak. Some evil queen had stolen her chance at True Love, and Ariel had managed to swim to Neverland in the anguish of the aftermath. And now, she wouldn't go back to her realm. At first, Bae had been furious when she said that. He would give _anything_ to have her ability to travel between realms. _Anything_ to be able to escape. And she could, but wouldn't because she thought there was nothing left for her in the outside world. Eventually though, they had agreed to disagree; they had enough enemies already without hating each other. They helped each other out in any way that they could. Ariel taught Bae how to harvest squid ink and gave him a conch shell to call her with; Baelfire healed any wounds she received and made her protection charms against the other mermaids.

The first time he used magic in front of her, Ariel had panicked. She had started widely gesturing and splashing at him, and it took her almost ten minutes to calm down. Even then, she was too excited to clearly communicate with him. Half an hour after Baelfire had healed the wound on her arm that caused the outburst, he finally found out why she was so enthusiastic. She was not born a mute. Instead, her voice had been magically silenced.

And she wanted Baelfire to free her from the curse.

He had tried; oh Gods had he tried. Spells, potions, poultices, everything, _and nothing had worked._ Eventually, he had managed to figure out why. Her voice hadn't been silenced; it had been stolen. Only the person that had taken it in the first place could return it to her, and, based on Ariel's descriptions of the witch, that wasn't likely.

Ariel had been heartbroken. Enough so that she renewed her vows not to move away from the island, despite the risks.

And as for Baelfire…. Well, he hadn't stopped trying to leave. He had been planning for centuries, after all. And now, now he was close.

And that was precisely what was troubling him.

Getting close meant that he had to finally make the decision that he had been putting off since he had found that coconut. He needed to decide his destination.

It was strange that a lesson from Captain Ho- the _Pirate_ was so instrumental in his escape. While he was certain he would have been able to discover the information on his own, it would have taken him years to figure it out in the accuracy required for the task. In fact, Baelfire was sure that his escape would have been put off by at least a decade if it wasn't for the man.

After all, he had been the one who had taught Bae how to navigate by the stars.

The concept was relatively simple. To leave Neverland, Baelfire needed to fly and he needed Pan's Shadow to do it. However, the Shadow needed to know where to go; that was where the stars came in. It was the perfect map, a perfect way to give it ironclad instructions on what realm to take him to. All he had to do was carve the constellation pattern of the realm he wished to travel to into the top half of the coconut shell. That was why he had risked his life for a specific coconut; the ones that grew on the south side of the island grew in the least magically rich area, ensuring it was effectively a blank slate when it came to magical interference (though the fact that Pan had probably burst a blood vessel when he couldn't figure out why Bae had run straight by his camp for a glorified _fruit_ was a bonus). He could enchant it without worrying about residue of the island's magic altering his course (it would be _horrible_ if managed to escape, only for the Shadow to get confused and bring him straight back to Neverland). Therefore, when he trapped the Shadow in its cage, the destination would be magically imprinted on it, and would be forced to take the former Lost Boy directly there.

Theoretically.

And now, he was forced to finally answer the question: Where would he go when he escaped?

Logically, he knew the Enchanted Forest was a better idea. Pan would never suspect that Bae had returned to a place that housed so many bad memories, and even if he did, Bae could use magic there to escape. Besides, the idea of spending the rest of his life pretending that magic and Neverland wasn't real was vile to him; he had gone through too much to just pretend it had never happened.

But… the Darlings could be still be in the Land Without Magic.

It was his secret hope, one that he had never dared to voice aloud. What if when he left, he would arrive back the morning after he had disappeared from the Darling residence? After all, Wendy had spent days here and was back a few hours later. Could he be so lucky that you always returned a few hours after you left?

In his experience, luck didn't exist; at least not for him. But if they were there, Baelfire knew that he would go back to them, no matter how difficult it would be living in that realm. Because he still remembered Wendy's hugs, Mrs. Darling's affectionate smiles, Mr. Darling's gruff fondness, and the way John and Michael would follow him everywhere, convinced he was the most amazing older brother in all the realms. Frankly, he _missed_ them. And if he had them in his life, maybe he could cope. Maybe he could hide his scars and tuck away all the memories, and just go on with his life. Maybe he _could_ do it, pretend that magic was nothing but a fable. But if they weren't still there, then there was nothing left for him in that realm.

He needed to know.

The water before him parted, allowing long red hair and a beautiful face to come bubbling up to the surface. Ariel grinned at him, but that quickly disappeared when she saw the look on his face. Quickly, she raised her hands and signed, _What's wrong?_

Baelfire took a deep breath. "I need a favor…"

* * *

The enchanting had gone smoothly, in Baelfire's opinion. They had gotten to a grassy field before the moon reached its zenith, and had the mirrors in place before Bae needed to cast the spells. The runes had faded into the twin looking glasses without trouble, signifying the enchantment as set.

"So… Now what?" Henry asked. "How are we supposed to get these to my family?"

Regina looked at Bae. "I believe that you said that you'd handle that little detail," she said with a raised eyebrow.

He nodded in acknowledgement. "True. But it would be a lot easier if I could get something from you."

Regina frowned. "What?"

"A voice."

The wizard had refused to elucidate as they traveled through town, just led the procession to the dock. Then, he knelt down by the water and and pulled a conch shell from his bag. Raising it to his lips, his whispered a name. Then, he stared expectantly at the water.

Regina soon tired of waiting. "Well?" she demanded.

Bae simply raised his hand and kept watching. The water's surface rippled and broke, and a long mane of red hair rose from the depths. Ariel grinned up at him. _Baelfire,_ she exuberantly signed. Rapidly, she began throwing signs together, all of which basically equated to _you crazy * $#!% , you actually did it!_

Baelfire grinned back. He had missed her. "Hey Ariel," he laughed. Telling her about his escape plans had been a risk, he knew that. Still, he had needed to give her _some_ explanation for his crazy request all those years ago, and she had deserved the truth. Of course, she hadn't been too hopeful about his chances of success.

When Pan had said that nobody left Neverland without his permission, that was because _nobody left without his permission._ It was literally unheard of. So his little escape had been both legendary for him, and embarrassing for Pan. It also meant that Ariel had been realistic about his chances of actually getting off, which were technically negligible, but Baelfire had stopped paying attention to that little detail over four hundred years ago.

" _Her?"_ Regina spluttered.

Ariel wheeled around, staring furiously at the former regent before spinning back to Baelfire. _What are you doing with_ her?

"Calm down," Bae reassured before turning towards Regina. "I believe you have something that belongs to Ariel."

"Why should I give it back to _her?"_

"It's her voice!"

"The shrimp deserved it! She ruined my revenge _and_ stabbed me in the neck with a fork!"

 _A fork?_ Bae wondered momentarily before refocusing on the problem at hand. "Regina," he reasoned. "You're trying to change, remember? That means you have to return the voices that you stole. And actually, that also counts for the hearts in your Vault, but we'll figure that out later. Besides, this will be a lot easier if Ariel can actually speak."

Regina shot him a disdainful look, but melted at the puppy dog eyes Henry was shooting her and flicked her wrist. Slowly, Ariel started to laugh. She glanced up at Bae, excited, and tried to pull him into a hug. Unfortunately, they overbalanced and the boy was dragged into the water. Bae crashed into the ocean, a rush of water pounding through his ears, before he struggled to the surface again. The sound of Henry's laughter met him, and he mock glared at the mermaid in front of him. "Thanks for that."

Unrepentant, Ariel laughed as she pulled him into a hug. "You _actually_ pulled it off!" she laughed. "You escaped! Without dying!"

Bae gave a small, bittersweet smile. "That's more than most can say, I guess. Still hanging around the old haunt, Ariel?"

Her smile disappeared. "I wasn't ready to move on to anywhere else." She shot a nervous glance at the pair still on the dock before she continued. " _He…_ was furious when you got off. You embarrassed Him. If He catches you…"

"I knew better than anyone what would happen if He found me again," Bae answered quietly. "It didn't change my decision." Slowly, Bae swam back to the dock and pulled himself up, wiping water off of his face.

"Why did you call me?" Ariel asked.

"Two reasons: I met Regina and was hoping she'd give you your voice back, and I need a favor."

The two had a long history of asking each other for favors. She needed help with the other mermaids, he needed information about another realm, whatever. They had an unspoken agreement to help with the other's request, within reason.

"What is it?"

"We need someone in the Enchanted Forest to get ahold of this mirror; her name is Emma."

"How will I find her?"

Bae reached into his bag and pulled out a scarf he pilfered from Emma's room, a small vial, and a nondescript. "When you get to the Enchanted Forest, put on the bracelet; it should give you legs. Theoretically speaking. Then, pour the potion on the scarf and get ready to run. Actually, just make sure to hang onto the scarf. You don't have all that much experience on legs, and that thing is going to travel fast."

Ariel nodded. "Anything else?"

Henry spoke up. "Can you tell my mom that Henry loves her? And that he didn't stop until Operation: Cobra was complete, and he won't give up on Operation: Tiger Shark either?"

The mermaid turned to swim away, before Bae stopped her. "Ariel… You said that you didn't have anything left in the other realms, and that's why you had to stay there. A Curse took us all from the Enchanted Forest; odds are, your Prince Eric is here. So if you wanted to try for Happily Ever After again…. Well, at least the neighbors aren't insane here. Probably."

Then, Ariel was gone, leaving nothing but a splash in her wake.

* * *

He should be used to this by now.

After all, his long, long life had been punctuated by loss since the day his mother had "died." The fact that someone he hadn't seen in centuries was dead shouldn't be enough to bring him to tears.

Ariel had come back. She had been gone for several days, traveling to the Land Without Magic at his request, to find out how much time had passed. And when she had come back, it was with tales of buildings taller than he remembered and ships that puffed smoke and strange metal carriages that Baelfire in no way remembered from his time in London. Baelfire didn't recognize a single thing from what she had described, and if it had been anyone else he would have thought they had traveled to the wrong realm.

It was undeniable now: Time had moved on without him.

Baelfire had waited until he was in the sanctity of his hideout before he let himself break down. At first, he hadn't been sure why he was crying. Wendy and the rest of the Darlings had probably lived long, happy lives _(without him)_. Wasn't that why he had sacrificed himself? So that they could be spared from the pain he had suffered? Hadn't he known that there was a very real possibility that he would never see them again the moment he grabbed the Shadow's icy cold hand?

But in the end, none of that mattered. Because before now he could pretend they were still alive. He could pretend that he would see his family again. And now, he knew that he _never_ would. He had lost them, _forever._ And so Baelfire cried.

Because damn it, they were _worth_ his tears.

Baelfire knew that eventually he would stop crying. Eventually, his sorrow would dry up and join the dull throb of pain that had followed him everywhere for years. Then, he would go back to planning. He would carve the path to the Enchanted Forest into the coconut and he'd escape. But not now.

Now, he cried for his _family._

* * *

 **I'm back! Two days early, in fact! As you can probably guess, I was not hit by a goat. Yay, for both me and the goat. I'm just going to go ahead and call this chapter eight, even though it's technically chapter seven, because it would make uploading this less confusing.**

 **So, if you guys haven't figured it out yet, Baelfire is seriously screwed up. Like, the mental scarring of a POW. There is a reason for that (other than the obvious). It has been hinted to several times, with the leather, the scars, ect. I'm going to have an entire flashback chapter devoted to that later in the fic. It will explain the main thing that happened in Neverland to make him so different than he was the last time we saw young Baelfire in the show. Prepare yourselves for serious angst.**

 **The plot should pick up from here. Until next time!**


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